Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- In the period from January to September 2020, the total volume of utilized foreign investments in the Republic of Uzbekistan made up US$7.2 billion (of which in fixed assets - US$5.7 billion), including US$4.9 billion in foreign direct investment, and US$2.3 billion in funds from international financial institutions and foreign government financial institutions, the Uzbek Ministry for Foreign Trade and Investment said.

In terms of foreign direct investment, sectoral enterprises disbursed US$1.8 billion of investments, of which US$1.3 billion in fixed assets (growth rate - 26% in relation to the same period of last year), and within the framework of regional investment programs – US$3.1 billion, of which US$2.5 billion in fixed assets (growth rate - 93% in relation to the same period last year).

According to the results of the reporting period, the most attractive for foreign investors were the electrical industry (growth - 25 times compared to the same period of 2019), the ICT sector (growth - 3.6 times) and the chemical industry (growth - 1.2 times ). Considering the indicators in the context of regions, it is worth noting the high dynamics of growth of direct foreign investments in Surkhandarya (1.1 times), Navoi (1.7 times) and Namangan regions (1.3 times).

A significant increase in investment performance is due, inter alia, to an increase in the inflow of funds allocated to Uzbekistan by international financial institutions and foreign government financial organizations, the bulk of which falls on the financial organizations of the Japanese government - JICA and JBIC (20% in relation to the total volume, or US$470.8 million), Asian Development Bank (16.6%, or US$380.0 million), World Bank (11.2%, or US$256.8 million), Islamic Development Bank (3.6%, or US$81.2 million) and others.

These funds were used to implement projects in the oil and gas industry (US$884.3 million), agriculture and water management (US$461.9 million), the chemical industry (US$272 million), energy (US$205.7 million), transport and the logistics sector (US$171 million), healthcare (US$70.0 million) and education (US$32.4 million).

In total, 65 large investment projects worth US$3.3 billion were completed in the reporting period, due to which more than 13 thousand new jobs were created. In particular, the Republic of Karakalpakstan launched the project "Construction of two combined cycle gas turbines with a capacity of 230-280 MW at the Takhiatash TPP", in Navoi region on the basis of Navoiazot JSC, the production of nitric acid was launched, in Tashkent, the production of household refrigerators for US$62.1 million in Technopark and its subsidiaries, construction of an elevated metro in the amount of US$466.1 million (Phase 1), construction of the second stage of Yunusabad line of the Tashkent metro worth US$103.8 million, and in Jizzakh region - organization of cement production at LLC Huacin Cement Jizzak worth US$150 million.

In total, by the end of 2020, it is planned to assimilate US$10.1 billion of foreign investments, of which US$9.2 billion in fixed assets, including the volume of foreign direct investment development will amount to US$7.0 billion, of which 6 in fixed assets, 6 billion dollars (2% in relation to the results of 2019).

In order to stimulate the attraction and development of foreign investments, the Government Commission for the Development of Exports and Investments on-site continues systematic work to study and solve the problems of entrepreneurs and initiators of investment projects. The Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade, together with sectoral ministries, departments and local authorities, is conducting special monitoring of the implementation of 206 large investment projects planned for commissioning this year, worth more than US$10.1 billion, the implementation of which will create more than 30 thousand jobs.

These projects include the construction of a Tashkent metallurgical plant worth US$359.4 million (672 jobs), the organization of production of ammonia and urea on the basis of Navoiazot JSC worth US$985.7 million (491 jobs), the organization of the production of textiles at the Jizzakh Kenteks worth US$25.0 million (400 jobs) and others.