Uzbekistan to provide one-time heating-season assistance to needy families

Uzbekistan will grant a one-off financial aid payment of UZS 1mn ($83) to qualifying low-income and socially vulnerable families during the 2026/27 heating season, with disbursements set for November 2026, according to a presidential decree.

The measure is set out in the decree “On Additional Measures for State Support of Vulnerable Segments of the Population During the Introduction of Market Mechanisms in the Fuel and Energy Sector,” which is intended to support households as the fuel and energy sector shifts to market-based mechanisms.

The aid will be available to families listed in the social register, as well as other low-income households that satisfy the established eligibility requirements but are not included in the register. Their eligibility will be assessed on the basis of recommendations from the Mahalla Seven.

The requirements include families whose monthly income per person does not exceed twice the minimum consumption expenditure. Households in apartment buildings connected to centralized heating systems are also eligible if their average monthly income per person is no more than twice the minimum consumption expenditure in the regions and Karakalpakstan, or three times that amount in Tashkent.

Other households whose income is above these thresholds may also receive support if district or city headquarters decide they are in need.

The payments will also extend to single and lonely elderly people and persons with disabilities who need outside care and are included in the relevant register, as well as families raising orphans and children deprived of parental care.

Uzbekistan introduced a similar one-time aid payment for needy households during the 2025 heating season under a presidential decree dated April 2, 2025. That step was part of wider efforts to provide social protection as the country introduced market mechanisms in the fuel and energy sector.