Friday, 29, March, 2024

Finances

On July 13-14, 2022, the Government of Uzbekistan and the World Bank organized a high-level meeting involving senior government officials from the five countries of Central Asia responsible for the human, animal, wildlife and environmental health, and agricultural sectors. They discussed ways to strengthen the regional collaboration in protecting food systems and preventing future pandemics, animal and human disease outbreaks and antimicrobial resistance.

The Central Bank of Uzbekistan announced the release into circulation of new samples of banknotes with a face value of 200 thousand soums from July 15.

The Senate at the plenary session on Friday approved the Tax Consulting Activities Bill, which was developed in place of the 2006 Tax Consulting Law, the Senate reported.

The Bill is with supplemented with a provision that tax consulting activities must be independent of the influence of state bodies and other organizations and officials.

According to the principle of independence, tax consultants may refuse to provide tax consulting services if there are circumstances that impede the independence of their activities.

The Bill contains a specified list of tax consulting services:

  • advising a client (principal) on calculation and payment of taxes and fees, preparation and submission of tax returns;
  • preparation of tax reporting (declaration), including its submission on behalf of the client (principal) through his personal account;
  • preparation of documents to be submitted to the tax authorities for the return and (or) repayment of tax arrears at the expense of excessively collected or overpaid taxes, granting a deferral or installment plan for the payment of taxes;
  • tax accounting;
  • determination of objects of taxation and objects related to taxation;
  • analysis and assessment of tax and financial risks, providing the client (principal) with recommendations on the application of tax benefits;
  • representation in courts, law enforcement and regulatory authorities in the consideration of economic, civil, criminal and administrative cases related to tax legal relations;
  • verification of the correctness of the fulfillment by the client (principal) of his tax obligations for a certain period, including in the event of voluntary liquidation, and more.

The Ministry of Finance (formerly the Cabinet of Ministers) is proposed as the authorized state body in the field of tax consulting.

The authority to develop and coordinate activities in the field of tax consulting are to be transferred to the Chamber of Tax Consultants, which is a public organization. In particular, such basic functions of the Ministry of Finance as issuing, reissuing, terminating the tax consultant's certificate, raising the professional level of tax consultants and others are also proposed to be transferred to it.

The law emphasizes that the members of the chamber retain their independence in carrying out their activities.

An Expert Council of Tax Advisers is to be established under the Chamber of Tax Advisers. It considers and issues opinions on systematically arising tax disputes between taxpayers and regulatory authorities, an expert assessment of proposals for amendments to tax legislation, and also develops proposals for its improvement.

The conclusions of the expert council on tax disputes are to be accepted for consideration by the regulatory authorities.

The U.S. Treasury has identified Uzbekistan as transshipment point through which restricted or controlled exports reach Russia and Belarus.

Private Savdogar Bank has changed its name to Garant Bank. The decision was approved at the June 17 shareholders meeting, the Unified Portal of Corporate Information said.

The purchase deal of a 100% stake in Uzagroexportbank by the Russian Sovcombank from the State Assets Management Agency of Uzbekistan (SAMA) has been practically cancelled, stated the first deputy chairman of Sovcombank Sergey Khotimsky, Interfax reported.

The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approved today a $143 million concessional credit for Uzbekistan. This financing will support a project aimed at improving the energy efficiency of public buildings and enhancing the institutional and regulatory framework in the buildings sector for attracting clean energy investments.

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) concluded the Article IV consultation with the Republic of Uzbekistan. Despite shocks from the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, Uzbekistan's economy has shown resilience. The pandemic caused a sharp slowdown in 2020, particularly in trade, tourism, and transportation. Nonetheless, real growth remained positive at 1.9 percent. Year-end inflation fell to 11 percent.

The Anti-Corruption Agency has made adjustments to previously reported data on bribes in Uzbekistan. During a briefing at AIMC on June 20, the spokesman to the Anti-Corruption Agency, Durdona Ochilova, said that the maximum amount of a bribe in Uzbekistan stood at $2 million in 2021.

Trading in the Uzbek soum, Armenian dram and South African rand will be launched at the Moscow Exchange currency market as of June 27.

On June 20, Michael Cofield, Advisor to the US Department of Commerce's Commercial Law Development Program (CLDP), and Kevin Piccoli, Deputy Director of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) visited the Uzbek Commodity Exchange (UzEx).

The German KfW Development Bank plans to зкўмшву up to 200 million euros for the renovation and construction of drinking water and sewage systems in Fergana province.

One of Austria’s largest banks, UniCredit, provided 7.9 million euros in a soft loan to Uzbekistan, Dunyo news agency said in a statement. The loan is intended to be used to equip agricultural enterprises with modern technologies of the Austrian company Bauer Gmbh for rain irrigation, the statement added.

The international rating agency S&P Global Ratings has confirmed the sovereign rating of Uzbekistan in foreign currency at BB- with a stable outlook, the agency said in a press release.

Entrepreneur Shukhrat Rakhmanov on May 18 reported on his Facebook group that recently U.S. banks began confiscating the cash of Uzbek legal entities paying for goods and services to Russian and Belarusian partners.

Last week, the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approved a $15 million concessional credit for Uzbekistan. It will finance a five-year projectto support the Government’s efforts in restructuring and privatizing state-owned commercial banks, strengthening financial preparedness for natural disasters, establishing a development bank, and improving export and trade financing instruments for local enterprises.

Uzbekistan is contributing to international efforts to combat global warming by participating in the Global Methane Pledge (GMP) aimed at the reduction of methane emissions by 30 per cent by 2030. It has become only the second country in Central Asia, a region known for high-intensity greenhouse gas emissions, to join the agreement.

The World Bank has released its new Systematic Country Diagnostic (SCD) report for Uzbekistan, which analyzes key challenges and opportunities for the country’s development. The SCD contains policy recommendations for removing barriers to private sector growth, reducing the state’s role in the economy, focusing on people and their human capital, and transitioning to a green economy. The report provides the foundation for selecting priority areas for the World Bank Group’s cooperation with the Government of Uzbekistan throughout the 2022-2026 period.

The World Bank Group’s Board of Executive Directors discussed and endorsed the Uzbekistan Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for the period 2022-26. The CPF will guide the World Bank Group’s work for the next five years supporting the Government of Uzbekistan’s strategic priorities outlined in the National Development Strategy for 2022-26.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will continue to scale up private sector investment in Uzbekistan’s urban and renewable energy sectors, and extend its support into new areas such as education and health, ADB Vice-President for Private Sector Operations and Public–Private Partnerships (PPPs) Ashok Lavasa told senior government officials during meetings in Tashkent.