Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) - A video-conference on mitigating the negative impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the living standards of the population and the economy was held on 19 March under the chairmanship of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

- Under the current conditions, industrial enterprises, entrepreneurs and exporters are waiting for concrete and effective measures from us. Therefore, creating reserves to compensate for possible economic losses and ensuring macroeconomic stability should be the main task of the government, Shavkat Mirziyoyev said.

In order to effectively organize this work, the President signed a decree on priority measures to mitigate the negative impact on the economy of the coronavirus pandemic and global crisis. An Anti-Crisis Fund is created in the amount of 10 trillion soums.

The meeting discussed the implementation of the tasks identified in the decree, mitigating the impact of the pandemic on the economy.

Instructions are given in the direction of the fund’s funds, first of all, to prevent the spread of coronavirus, to provide medical institutions with medicines, protection and diagnostics, and timely financing of quarantine expenses.

Almost 5.5 thousand medical workers were involved in the fight against coronavirus in the country. It was entrusted to provide them with material and moral support, to pay a bonus in the amount of 120 percent of salary.

The need for timely detection of infected and increased attention to prevention, providing all infectious hospitals in the regions with rapid tests was emphasized.

The tasks of providing tax holidays and preferences for credit debt, the allocation of budget loans to industries most exposed to coronavirus are identified.

For example, there are growing risks of non-repayment of loans worth 90 billion soums in the hotel business, 650 billion soums in the transport and logistics sector, 180 billion soums in the catering sector, 3.6 trillion soums in foreign trade enterprises. Travel agencies and hotels continue to pay a tourist fee of US$2-3 per day.

In this regard, an instruction was given to extend the repayment periods of loans of these enterprises, temporarily suspend the collection of tourist fees.

It was noted that entrepreneurs forced to suspend operations due to a pandemic will receive interest-free loans through banks. The khokims will be authorized to grant deferred enterprises tax payments for up to 6 months.

Along with this, tax rates on personal income for individual entrepreneurs and tax on the use of water resources for farmers will be reduced by 50 percent. In this case, the loss of local budgets will be reimbursed from the republican budget.

A moratorium on tax audits will be announced before the end of the year, accrual of interest on tax debt of enterprises will be suspended. No inspection body will bother entrepreneurs.

Given the situation in international trade, it was instructed not to apply fines in connection with overdue debts on export-import operations, to increase the product pass through the “green corridors”, and to quickly solve the problems associated with freight traffic.

- Naturally, in the current situation, the tax base of some enterprises will decrease. But the responsible persons should have a daily analysis and a clear picture of what will account for the shortage, the President said.

At the meeting, special attention was paid to the social protection of the population. Tasks have been set to ensure the rights of workers in quarantined institutions, quarantined citizens and their caregivers, to increase the number of recipients of social benefits by at least 10 percent or 60 thousand.

The dismissal of parents who are looking after children in quarantine is absolutely unacceptable. They will also be paid a 100% temporary disability benefit.

During the suspension of the activities of kindergartens and secondary schools, parents (persons replacing them) of pupils and primary school students will be granted annual leave, regardless of the schedule for using annual leave.

In the face of declining business activity, employment is of particular concern. In this regard, the Public Works Fund will be allocated an additional 200 billion soums from the Anti-Crisis Fund. These funds will be used for employment, construction of additional infrastructure in the mahallas. An additional 500 billion soums will be allocated to the State Fund for Entrepreneurship Support to assist business entities creating jobs.

In order to ensure the quality implementation of these measures, a Republican Anti-Crisis Commission will be formed, headed by the Prime Minister. Starting from 22 March and for two months, the commission will deal with the issues of counteracting the spread of coronavirus, ensuring sustainable operation of the industries, services, trade, transport, logistics and other enterprises in the context of each district and city.

The Committee on Management of State Reserves under the Cabinet of Ministers has been instructed to monitor the dynamics of prices in the markets and, if necessary, supply products from stocks.

Responsible persons provided information on the issues discussed at the meeting.