BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 2. Uzbekistan’s GDP growth in 2023 is expected to drop from an estimated 6 percent, Trend reports, referring to the forecast of Renaissance Capital investment bank.
According to the bank, the country’s GDP growth expects downside risk amid abnormal frosts in January of this year.
Renaissance Capital notes that growing cold weather during the first month of 2023 caused a slowdown in economic activity, in particular, industrial production decreased by 9.9 percent, retail trade turnover – by 8.6 percent, and construction work – by 34.3 percent year-on-year. Meanwhile, the services sector remained robust, posting a 7.3 percent in January.
At the same time, energy disruptions in January also affected on the downside for the bank’s economic growth forecast in Uzbekistan.
Meanwhile, Renaissance Capital projected that Uzbekistan’s inflation rate is expected to start decreasing in 1H2023 and reach 7 percent by the end of 2023, and projects inflation to decelerate further to 6 percent by the end of 2024.