From September 1, 2022, the government will pay maternity benefits to women in Uzbekistan working in the private sector, announced President Shavkat Mirziyoyev on March 1 at a conference call meeting.
Shavkat Mirziyoyev highlighted at the meeting that an average of 700,000 children are born in the country every year. Women who have children must go on maternity leave for at least 4 months.
“It must be said openly that now budget-financed organizations pay pregnancy benefits in full, but there are cases when the private sector avoids the formal employment of women because of these expenses,” the head of state said.
Now, from September 1, a system will be created in which the state will guarantee the payment of pregnancy benefits to women officially working in the private sector. Now they will also receive a one-time pregnancy benefit in the amount of 2 million soums for a period 4 months.
This year, 200 billion soums will be contributed from the budget for these purposes, and 1.7 trillion soums in 2023.
In November 2021, an MP from the People’s Democratic Party Ulugbek Vafoev proposed that the state bear costs of paying maternity benefits and guarantee that all women receive “maternity leave”, regardless of whether they work in budget-financed organizations or in private sector.
