Uzbekfilm Repays More Than 1 Billion Soums in Tax Debt
Uzbekistan’s Uzbekfilm studio has fully repaid more than 1 billion soums in tax debt, while 12 vehicles have been returned to its possession.
**Uzbekfilm Clears More Than 1 Billion Soums in Tax Arrears**
Uzbekfilm has fully paid off tax debt amounting to more than 1 billion soums. In addition, 12 vehicles that had previously been set to go to auction because of the debt have been returned to the company.
Jakhongir Akhmedov, First Deputy Minister of Culture and Director of the Cinema Agency, shared the news on his Telegram channel.
The studio’s next task is to resolve its unpaid obligations to employees. Akhmedov said wage arrears are above 3 billion soums and assured that these debts to staff will also be settled.
At the same time, Uzbekfilm’s biggest financial challenge remains a €22 million credit obligation. The Cinema Agency, together with the Ministry of Economy and Finance, is working to free the film studio and its 10-hectare land plot from collateral and address the remaining loan debt.
Previously, Akhmedov put Uzbekfilm’s credit obligation at €22.9 million and said the studio’s assets, including land plots, had been pledged as collateral. He named preserving the studio and resolving the collateral issue among its main current priorities.
Meanwhile, Uzbekfilm also needs to move toward a more sustainable financial model. According to Akhmedov, the studio must secure orders worth at least 60 billion soums a year to remain self-sufficient.
The studio still relies on government orders and, as the head of the Cinema Agency noted, does not yet have a fully formed business model or fully established market mechanisms for its work.
Akhmedov said the next steps should include not only preserving Uzbekfilm, but also carrying out a deep reform of the studio.
In the long run, the studio is expected to become a financially sustainable national film company with a modern management system capable of attracting private investment, building international ties and independently producing films.
“Uzbekfilm should be a symbol not of crisis, but of national cinema,” Akhmedov emphasized.