Uzbekistan to conduct business census due to scale of non-observed economy

Uzbekistan will conduct a business census due to the scale of the shadow economy.

A business census will be conducted in Uzbekistan from October 15 to November 30. This information was announced on September 2 during the presentation of preliminary results of the population and agricultural census to President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

According to official data, the non-observed economy accounts for 23% of the total, equivalent to 246 trillion soums. In the agricultural sector, this economy accounts for 60% of total turnover.

The income of 6.5 million of the 15.2 million employed, or 42%, is not fully reflected in official reporting. Furthermore, some registered small and medium-sized businesses are either inactive or have already ceased operations.

The presidential administration emphasized that this creates an unhealthy competitive environment for businesses that operate conscientiously and fully meet their tax obligations. In fact, every fourth or fifth sum of economic turnover remains outside the scope of official statistics.

According to government estimates, streamlining such activity could generate additional budget revenues of tens of trillions of sums and further create opportunities to reduce the tax burden.

In this regard, the President approved a proposal to conduct a separate business census from October 15 to November 30.

This census will involve an inventory of all active economic entities in the country, clarifying their actual status, composition, and distribution across economic sectors.

Following this, statistical registers of enterprises and organizations will be updated. These registers should subsequently serve as the basis for conducting sample statistical surveys and more accurate assessments of economic activity.