Russian expert shares with Uzbekistan his experience in assessing the size of shadow economy

Российский эксперт поделился опытом оценки размера теневой экономики с Узбекистаном
23 September 2019
On September 17, 2019, Vitaly Burov, an expert on the shadow economy from the Russian Federation, participated in a roundtable discussion on "The shadow economy in Uzbekistan: assessment, causes and ways of reducing it". The round table was organized by the Ministry of Economy and Industry in cooperation with the UNDP and the Central Bank of Uzbekistan. 

Mr. Botir Usmonov, Deputy Minister of Economy and Industry of the Republic of Uzbekistan, and Ms. Matilda Dimovska, UNDP Resident Representative in Uzbekistan, delivered welcoming remarks at the round table.

Presentations by Mr. Burov highlighted the experience of the Russian Federation regarding the measurement of the shadow economy and the measures taken by the Government to reduce its share in the economy, as well as the approaches to assess the size of the shadow economy in Uzbekistan based on the results of the enterprise survey.
  
On the basis of surveys and interviews it was revealed that the main economic reason for the shadow economy is a large number of taxes, fees and contributions and their size. Further by the degree of importance such reasons as: lack of sufficient funds for enterprises, problems with banks related to the implementation of settlements, payments, withdrawal of funds, quality of services, high interest rates on loans were identified. The main reasons of non-economic nature are lack of necessary knowledge and experience of entrepreneurs, competition from other entrepreneurs, quality of production infrastructure (electricity, gas, water, buildings, transport, roads), bureaucratic barriers to the organization and conduct of business, extortion of officials/regulatory bodies, corruption in government agencies (tax, customs and law enforcement agencies and mayor's offices) and insecurity of property rights.

Following the visit, the Russian expert was presented with a letter of appreciation on behalf of the Ministry of Economy and Industry of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

At the end of the assignment, Vitaly Burov will present a report on the scale of the shadow economy in Uzbekistan using an economic model with recommendations for reducing the shadow economy in the country, based on the experience of the Russian Federation.

The expert assignment is implemented within the framework of the project "Knowledge Management and Capacity Building in the UNDP-Russia Partnership".
 

Back to the list