Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.uz) — Uzbekistan is expanding competition and reducing the state’s direct involvement in the economy as key priorities of its economic reforms.
In recent years, the country has taken measures to expand private businesses’ access to markets, reduce exclusive rights and strengthen oversight of anti-competitive practices, according to an article by Khalilullo Turakhodjayev, chairman of the Committee for the Development of Competition and Protection of Consumer Rights, published in the Yeni Uzbekistan newspaper.
The article said that following the launch of reforms in 2017, competition policy became a permanent component of the state’s economic policy.
In 2023, Uzbekistan adopted a new Competition Law introducing modern mechanisms to prevent abuse of dominant positions and cartel agreements, regulate state aid and economic concentration, and protect competition in the activities of state-owned enterprises and digital platforms.
More than 4,000 draft regulatory legal acts have been reviewed in recent years, with provisions capable of restricting competition identified in 52% of them.
In addition, 6,700 decisions by state bodies and local hokimiyats that contradicted competition principles were cancelled or brought into compliance with the law. Some 3,500 anti-competitive practices were eliminated, while about 912 billion soums in unjustifiably obtained funds were returned.
In the area of economic concentration, 1,181 transactions worth a total of US$13.2 billion were approved between 2019 and 2026. Approval was denied for 31 transactions because of the risk of a negative impact on competition. An antitrust compliance system is also in place at more than 400 large enterprises and state bodies.
A separate area of reform concerns reducing the state’s presence in the economy. Uzbekistan has introduced the “Yellow Pages” principle, which limits the creation of new state-owned enterprises in markets where at least five private businesses are already operating.
According to the article, the share of state-owned enterprises in GDP has fallen from 55% to nearly 30%, while their number has declined from 3,200 to 1,700. At the same time, 160 licensing and permitting procedures have been abolished or simplified.
The number of active business entities increased from 257,700 in 2016 to 474,900 in 2026. GDP rose from 199.3 trillion soums in 2016 to 1,849.7 trillion soums in 2025.
The article also highlights a review of exclusive rights and individual benefits that had restricted companies’ access to certain markets. Exclusive rights were abolished in 24 types of activities, while individual benefits in 39 areas were reduced or revised. Following the abolition of a number of exclusive rights from 2025, more than 100 businesses gained access to the relevant service markets.
Changes have also affected natural monopolies. The status of 56 enterprises whose core activities were not carried out under natural monopoly conditions was reviewed. Six types of services were removed from the list of natural monopolies. As a result, the number of natural monopoly entities fell from 140 in 2018 to 78 in 2026.
The aviation sector is cited in the article as an example of stronger competition. While Uzbekistan had one domestic airline in 2017, the number reached 15 in 2025. Passenger traffic increased almost fivefold to 15 million, including 12 million international passengers.
The reforms have also affected price regulation. Administrative mechanisms for regulating the prices of 28 types of goods and services were reviewed, including flour, bread, cottonseed oil, grain, fuel and mineral fertilizers.
At the same time, oversight of collusion, artificial shortages, abuse of dominant positions and exchange manipulation was strengthened. According to the figures cited in the article, prices for liquefied gas fell by 38% in some markets, wheat prices by 14% and urea prices for farmers by 25%. Unjustified price increases totalling 78 billion soums were prevented at 145 enterprises. Orders were issued in 344 cases of exchange manipulation to return 105 billion soums.
In 2025, about 41,000 consumer complaints were reviewed, resulting in measures to return 383.4 billion soums. Systematic inspections in the gas, utilities, fuel and pharmaceutical sectors helped restore the rights of 17 million consumers.
A unified information system, Fair Tech, is being used for digital market monitoring, along with the Fair Price, Product Info and Pharm Info modules. They are integrated with the information resources of 32 government bodies. The time required to obtain certain data was reduced from 10–20 days to 15 minutes, while the analysis process became five times faster.
On this basis, 204 entities and 165 products were identified as holding dominant positions in the financial market. Significant bargaining power was identified at 93 enterprises, while dominant positions were established for six types of services provided by nine digital platforms.
The article also presents findings from an analysis of regional competitiveness and investment opportunities. In Syrdarya Region, opportunities were identified in 40 types of products with high economic complexity.
The potential market for these products is estimated at more than US$2.6 billion in neighbouring countries, US$8 billion in Russia and US$4 billion in Türkiye.
The competitive environment has improved in about 30 sectors, according to the article, including cotton and grain markets, civil aviation, electronic payments, cement and construction materials, cable and metallurgical products.
At the same time, the range of goods has expanded from about 4,100 types in 2019 to 5,600 in 2025.
The article identifies further targets, including increasing the share of the non-state sector to 85% by 2030, gradually abolishing 16 types of state monopolies and expanding private-sector participation in rail transport, construction and road management, as well as gas and electricity supply.
By 2030, Uzbekistan also plans to restrict monopoly and dominant positions in 15 markets, gradually abolish more than 10 exclusive rights, remove restrictions on parallel imports and introduce modern international principles for the use of trademarks.
At the same time, the state will retain the necessary role in strategic energy and transport infrastructure, as well as facilities related to national security, the article said. The main task is to establish rational limits for state participation while improving the quality of market rules and the effectiveness of oversight.
According to the author, developing competition and reducing direct state involvement will create conditions for expanding opportunities for the private sector, encouraging innovation and improving economic efficiency.
