President approves proposal to hold business registration event

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev approved the proposal to hold a business registration event. The presidential press service reported this.

The President reviewed the results of the population and agricultural census and the presentation of proposals aimed at accelerating reforms in the national statistics system.

It was reported that the population of Uzbekistan has almost doubled since 1989, and the economy has grown twice as much over the past eight years. Such changes increase the need for accurate and reliable information on the composition of the population, places of residence, land resources, agriculture and food sources.

For this purpose, information was provided on the results of the population and agricultural census conducted this year.

According to preliminary results, the number of permanent residents in the country amounted to 39 million 47 thousand people. The place of residence and social status of 810.6 thousand people who were not reflected in the current census were clarified.

Compared with the current data, it was found that the population of Jizzakh region is 2.7 percent less, Namangan - 1.3 percent, Surkhandarya - 0.9 percent, and Kashkadarya - 0.7 percent. In Bukhara region, the indicator has almost not changed, while in other regions it has increased. In particular, it was found that the population of Tashkent district is 1.6 times more than the previous calculation, and in Andijan city - 15.8 percent less.

As a result of the agricultural census, the boundaries and categories of 985.5 thousand hectares of land not reflected in the calculation were clarified. Of these, 789.5 thousand hectares are arable land, 14.1 thousand hectares are greenhouses, 75.3 thousand hectares are gardens, 21.4 thousand hectares are vineyards, and 85 thousand hectares are fishing basins.

Due to the digitization of processes, the cost of registration did not exceed 1.5 thousand soums per capita. This is 15 times less than the indicators in the CIS countries. The coverage of registration via the Internet was 82.3 percent. All processes were completed in 15 days, placing Uzbekistan in second place in the world in terms of registration speed.

Based on the results of the registration, constantly updated statistical registers of the population and agriculture will be formed. 100 indicators related to socio-economic development programs and 50 indicators related to agriculture and arable land will be updated. Also, national accounts indicators for 2017-2025 will be reevaluated.

The presentation paid special attention to the issues of full statistical accounting of economic activity. Today, the share of the unobserved economy is 23 percent, or 246 trillion soums. This sector accounts for 60 percent of the total turnover in agriculture.

Of the 15.2 million employed population, 6.5 million or 42 percent have their incomes not fully reflected in official accounts. Many registered small and medium-sized businesses are either inactive or have ceased operations.

This situation creates an unhealthy competitive environment for enterprises that work honestly and fully fulfill their tax obligations. 1 soum of every 4-5 soums of economic turnover is not included in official statistics. Regulating this activity will provide the budget with additional tens of trillions of soums of revenue and reduce the tax burden in the future.

In this regard, a proposal was approved to hold a business registration event from October 15 to November 30 of this year. Within its framework, all economic units operating in the country will be registered, clarifying the status, composition, and distribution of entities by economic sectors. Statistical registers of enterprises and organizations will be updated, creating a reliable basis for selective observations.