Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- At the seventh plenary meeting of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis, the Minister of Finance of the Republic of Uzbekistan heard information on the execution of the State budget of the Republic of Uzbekistan in the first half of 2020.

It was noted that the execution of the State budget of the Republic of Uzbekistan in the first half of 2020 was aimed at ensuring the implementation of budget parameters established by the Law "On the State Budget of the Republic of Uzbekistan for 2020", decrees and resolutions of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan to prevent the spread of coronavirus infection, to overcome the consequences of the global crisis , as well as resolutions of the Government and the Anti-Crisis Commission.

Due to the impact of the slowdown in global growth rates on the country’s economy in the first half of 2020, the volume of GDP in current prices amounted to 255.3 trillion soums or 0.2% compared to the same period last year.

The revenues of the consolidated budget of the Republic of Uzbekistan in the first half of 2020 amounted to 71.6 trillion soums or 28.8% of GDP, and expenditures - 80.5 trillion soums or 32.4% of GDP.

As a result of the adoption of measures aimed at preventing the spread of coronavirus infection in the country, the execution of state budget revenues for 6 months of 2020 made up 58.2 trillion soums or 45.3% in relation to the approved annual parameters. During the reporting period, an increase in the inflow of funds was achieved by 15% compared to the same period last year.

State budget expenditures for the first half of 2020 amounted to 64.9 trillion soums, which is 1.2 times more than in the same period of last year. As a result, salaries and equivalent payments in the amount of 23.1 trillion soums and deductions for salaries in the amount of 5.0 trillion soums were timely and fully financed.

In addition, within 6 months, 9.0 trillion soums were allocated from the State budget for economic expenses or 13.9% of all expenses, for investment expenses - 6.0 trillion soums or 9.2% of all expenses.

In the reporting period, the main factor contributing to the increase in spending on health care, pensions and benefits, the economy and investments was the cost of measures to ensure sanitary and epidemiological well-being and safety of the population, to prevent the spread of coronavirus infection, as well as measures to provide social support to the population in a pandemic.

In particular, as of July 1, 2020 at the expense of the Anti-Crisis Fund, measures for 5.6 trillion soums were financed to prevent the spread of coronavirus infection, support entrepreneurship and employment, expand social support for the population, and ensure the sustainable functioning of various sectors of the economy.

In addition, during the reporting period, certain work was done to strengthen the autonomy of local budget management, ensure guaranteed funding for socio-economic development programs, increase the responsibility of local governments in the formation of local budgets and the effective use of funds.

In particular, in the first half of this year, the forecast for local budget revenues made up 10.2 trillion soums and the plan was actually fulfilled by 12.9 trillion soums. Basically, the established forecast plans were ensured by creating new business entities, increasing the production capacity of low-power enterprises, creating new and legalizing additional jobs, reducing tax arrears, and conducting desk audits.

It was noted at the meeting that although the forecast of the total revenues of local budgets by region was fulfilled, the planned targets for some types of taxes were not fulfilled. In particular, as of 1 July, tax arrears to local budgets amounted to 2.9 trillion soums and increased by 112 billion soums compared to the beginning of the year. The share of local budgets in the state budget revenues was 22.1%, and their share in total expenditures was 31.1%.

It was also noted that in connection with the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, the application of quarantine measures, a number of changes have been made to the expenditure side of local budgets.

In particular, about 1 trillion soums were optimized from the budget of the Republic of Karakalpakstan and local budgets. In the first half of this year, 164 billion soums were allocated for the population and economic infrastructure of the Bukhara region, affected on April 27-28, 2020 due to strong winds, additional funds in the amount of 500 billion soums to support the population affected by the emergency for Sardoba reservoir and infrastructure restoration.

In addition, since April 1, 2020, the number of recipients of benefits for families with children under 14, benefits for childcare and financial assistance until the child reaches the age of two has increased by 10%. As a result of these measures, by the end of this year, the number of recipients of social benefits and material assistance will amount to 657.8 thousand families (+ 60.3 thousand). 211.8 billion soums will be allocated from the Anti-Crisis Fund to pay them additional benefits, of which 91.3 billion soums have been financed.

Attention is also drawn to the shortcomings identified in the reporting period. In particular, the collection of funds in the amount of 51.7 billion soums to the budget was not ensured in relation to the identified additional income.

At the same time, budget transfers in the amount of 626 billion soums have been allocated to local budgets from the republican budget in order to prevent temporary cash gaps caused by untimely receipts of revenues to local budgets due to the pandemic, and timely financing of fixed costs in the reporting period.

Thanks to the measures taken to support the population and business entities during the coronavirus pandemic, 7669 small firms, small businesses and individual entrepreneurs received preferences in the amount of 132.7 billion soums for extending the deadline for paying taxes on property, land and water until October 1, 2020.

A corresponding resolution of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis was adopted on this issue.