BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept. 28
By Klavdiya Romakayeva - Trend:
In the first half of 2020, Uzbekistan received 749.9 million foreign direct investments, Trend reports referring to the data of the Central Bank in Uzbekistan.
Of these, 695.5 million investments fell to non-financial enterprises, and 51.7 million fell to banks. The main part is a net investment in the capital which amounted to 497.2 million investments. The reinvestment of income amounted to 255.7 million. Another 96 million fell on attracting loans from parent companies.
For comparison, in the same period last year, the volume of foreign direct investment was more than $1 billion.
The CB notes that the attraction of foreign direct investment to Uzbekistan was to some extent offset by the repatriation of some investments under production sharing agreements.
“Against the backdrop of the crisis in the global economy, net foreign investment in capital decreased by two times, while the volume of reinvestment of income by foreign investors remained almost at the level of the first half of 2019,” the Central Bank noted.
Earlier it was reported that gold sales by Uzbekistan set two records - almost $6 billion and 50 percent of exports. Since the beginning of the year, Uzbekistan has received more from the sale of precious metal than in the entire 2019.
Expensive gold partially compensated for the country's losses due to the pandemic. State budget revenues for the year are expected to amount to 125.8 trillion soums ($12.3 billion). This is only 2.6 trillion soums ($253 million) less than was provided for by the law on the state budget.
The rise in the price of gold has a beneficial effect on the economy of Uzbekistan, especially in a crisis situation when many other sources of exports are falling and economic growth is slowing down.
“However, in the medium and long term, in no case can one hope for raw materials exports. This is especially evident in the examples of the economies of Russia and Kazakhstan, which did not rebuild their economies sufficiently and enjoyed high oil and gas prices, said General Director of RB Asia international investment and consulting company Doniyor Islamov.
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