Uzbekistan's experience in mitigating the socio-economic impact of the global pandemic and developing national integrated financing mechanisms

On May 28, an international workshop on financing the implementation of the sustainable development Goals (SDGs) and the role of integrated national financing mechanisms was held in the format of a videoconference. The seminar was organized by the government of Turkmenistan together with the UN Office in Turkmenistan and the UN Department of social and economic Affairs. The participants of the seminar are high-level representatives of the governments of the countries participating in the UN Special programme for the economies of Central Asia (SPECA), the UN European

For reference: the UN Special programme for the economies of Central Asia (SPECA) was established in 1998 and currently covers Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. SPECA aims to strengthen sub-regional cooperation in international trade, transport corridor and transit development, and water and energy resources management in the Central Asian region. Economic Commission, experts from the world Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and others.

Deputy Minister of Finance of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shokhrukh Sharakhmetov made a report on the topic "Uzbekistan's Experience in mitigating the socio-economic impact of the global pandemic and forming national integrated financing mechanisms".

In his speech, sh. Sharakhmetov acquainted the participants of the seminar with the activities of the government of Uzbekistan to achieve the indicators of the sustainable development Goals, briefly reported on the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the solution of these tasks, the economy, business and the population, and spoke about the government's decisions in the fight against COVID-19.

For reference: the UN SDGs are 17 goals and 169 targets adopted by all UN member States (193) in 2015 and aimed at eliminating poverty and hunger everywhere, reducing inequality, ensuring a healthy lifestyle, equitable quality education and lifelong learning for all, achieving gender equality and other goals to improve the quality of life of people.

It was noted that on October 20, 2018, the Cabinet of Ministers approved 16 National Sustainable Development Goals and 125 related tasks for the period until 2030. They were divided into 6 groups - Economic Welfare, Social Protection, Health Care, Education, Environment and Good Governance. A Coordinating Council for their implementation has been established and the corresponding road map has been approved. Uzbekistan is among 49 countries planning to present a Voluntary national review (VNR) this year at the UN Political forum on sustainable development in 2020.

Since the first case of COVID-19 was detected on March 15, more than a dozen decrees and resolutions of the head of state have been adopted in the republic aimed at mitigating the impact of the pandemic on the standard of living of the population and industry. The Anti-Crisis Fund of the Republic of Uzbekistan in the amount of 10 trillion sums was created. As a result, more than 500 thousand business entities and over 8 million citizens received benefits and preferences in the amount of about 30 trillion sums, or about $ 3 billion. The measures being implemented were aimed at maximizing the control of the spread of infection, isolating foci of infection and supporting strategic enterprises, as well as sectors of the economy that were most affected by forced restrictions. These are the spheres of tourism, hotel business, foreign economic activity, wholesale trade, where the majority are small businesses and individual entrepreneurs. Tax incentives and deferrals were introduced, fines were written off, and credit holidays were granted.

The government also took measures to support low-income and vulnerable segments of the population, including increasing the number of recipients of benefits (by more than 20%) and allocating additional funds to them, providing food packages, providing lonely elderly and disabled people with mask sets and antiseptic agents. Salaries to employees of state educational institutions, sports and cultural institutions that have suspended their activities are paid on time. Large-scale measures have been implemented in the healthcare sector, including the introduction of additional payments to doctors, the purchase of protective drugs and test systems.

At the same time, this situation gave impetus to the adoption of separate government decisions on the implementation of the digital economy and e-government, ensuring the stability of the State budget, timely financing of priority measures during the pandemic and providing the population with medicines.

Given the development of the pandemic situation, work continues on the development of an integrated national financial strategy for the SDGs by relevant ministries and UN agencies in Uzbekistan. Already this year it is planned to create a reliable mechanism to ensure effective mobilization of resources for the successful achievement of the SDGs in our country.

As a result of the seminar, a joint statement was adopted in order to exchange experiences and views on financing the implementation of the SDGs at various international venues, including overcoming the difficulties of an economic, social and financial nature caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.