15.04.2022

On April 15, under the chairmanship of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the videoconferencing was held to ensure the price stability in the markets by increasing food production and creating additional conditions for entrepreneurship.

As it is well-known, due to the current situation in the world, the food prices are rising. In such circumstances, in order to ensure price stability, it is necessary to increase the production of foodstuffs.

In this regard, our country has set a goal to harvest 7,7 million tons of wheat, 23 million tons of fruits and vegetables this year, to provide uninterrupted supply of products to the domestic market.

The appropriate measures were discussed at the meeting.

It was noted that, first of all it is necessary to effectively use more than 300 thousand hectares of land that have replenished the land fund. 80 thousand hectares of these lands are land released after the reduction of cotton and grain fields. They were given to 254 thousand people based on an open competition. This means that 500 hectares of sown land came up in each district.

Emphasizing that the biggest challenge for farmers is to find high-quality seeds and sell their products, the President as instructed the Ministry of Agriculture and khokims (governors and mayors) of the regions to ensure the supply of high-yielding seeds and seedlings, guaranteed purchase of products. The Horticulture and Greenhouse Development Agency will be allocated an additional 300 billion Uzbek soums from the Agriculture Fund.

  Another reserve for growing food crops is the use of more than 100 thousand hectares of land around reservoirs. The measures have been set to build irrigation networks in these areas, attract entrepreneurs and plant appropriate crops.

It is noted that the recovery of 135 thousand hectares of abandoned land is an additional opportunity to grow agricultural products.

Today, the population has 380 thousand hectares of household land at its disposal. Growing fruits and vegetables on these lands will not only provide prosperity in homes, but will also become a source of market saturation. For this, a financing system was established: on February 21 this year the Cabinet of Ministers adopted a resolution on the guaranteed purchase of products grown in households.

The Council of Farmers, Dekhqan (Peasant) Farms and Owners of Household Land has been instructed to train the population and promoting the cultivation of marketable crops with the participation of experienced farmers.

The homeowners may face a shortage of water for irrigation. Therefore, the Ministry of Water Management was tasked with taking measures to clean canals and aryks (the ditches) at makhallas (the local neighborhood community areas), dig wells and install pumps in areas with difficult water supply, and provide the population with irrigation water. It was noted that 50 billion Uzbek soums will be allocated from the republican budget and another 50 billion Uzbek soums - from local budgets for these purposes.

It was also decided to adopt a special program to mitigate the effects of water shortages. Thus, by October 1, 4,5 thousand kilometers will be cleaned and 231 kilometers of irrigation networks will be concreted, 3 thousand hydraulic structures will be repaired, more than 3 thousand pumps will be installed, 281 wells will be built.

The financial support issues for the agricultural sector were touched upon.

For use in 2022, the commercial banks were provided with 2 trillion Uzbek soums of soft loans. However, to date, only 53% of applications for 790 billion Uzbek soums submitted to commercial banks have been financed. In some regions this indicator shows 25%-30%. The work of banks in this direction has been criticized, additional instructions have been given.

A particular attention is paid to measures on increasing the production of grain and raw materials for vegetable oil. It was recommended to provide imported sunflower, soybean and other oilseed plants with customs benefits and exempt them from the value-added tax (VAT).

The second issue on the agenda was further support of entrepreneurship.

It was noted that business activity has recently declined in some regions, entrepreneurs have faced with credit, tax and infrastructure problems.

Therefore, the President put forward a number of initiatives aimed at encouraging and supporting entrepreneurs.

It was instructed to allocate additional funds to the State Fund to Support Entrepreneurship and optimize the effectiveness of financial assistance.

The National Bank shall offer loans of up to 5 billion Uzbek soums in the sphere of services by the National Bank for Foreign Economic Activity. Besides, the loan rate shall not exceed 18% taking into account the compensation from the Entrepreneurship Fund.

Along with this, $300 million will be allocated to finance small and medium business projects in the regions. These funds will be invested in the national currency at a rate of 10% over a period of 7 years in the banks that provide the best conditions for entrepreneurs. Moreover, the rate on the loan granted to the entrepreneur will not exceed 14%.

The problems of the exporting companies were analyzed and further opportunities were identified. A simplified mechanism of the value-added tax (VAT) refund will be implemented. 80% of funds shall be refunded within 7 days without additional verification.

A new system of constant investigation and rapid resolution of exporters’ problems has been announced. For this purpose, a permanent headquarters and a call center shall be established. The responsible officials will meet with exporters on a regular basis and solve their problems on the ground.

A relevant issue is the auctioning of land areas for entrepreneurship. Therefore, a working group that will coordinate the identification of free land areas at the makhallas (the local neighborhood community areas), the launch of projects with the involvement of professional organizations, as well as land sell has been established under Cabinet of Ministers.

The President has set a task to simplify the system of tax administration and inspection of entrepreneurs since June 1, 2022.

Primarily, the procedure of an effective tax mechanism (additional high tax rates) regarding inefficiently used objects will be abolished due to the transition of tax calculation system to market principles.

Besides, the entrepreneurs with a turnover of more than 1 billion Uzbek soums will automatically be supplied with a certificate of the VAT payer without prior verification.

It was noted that this year the number of business inspections has increased. To prevent unjustified interference, it was stated that from now on additional 22 types of inspections can be carried out only with the permission of Business Ombudsman.

The need of further simplification of approval requirements was also emphasized. The task is to review the hygiene requirements in public catering enterprises, to eliminate obsolete requirements, and to introduce benefits for delivery service providers.

At the end of the meeting, the President drew public attention to the issue of rational use of funds.

«Currently, the huge credit funds are allocated for business- $500 million. Why? Because, no matter how difficult it is, we must think about the well-being of our people, the sustainable development of our state in the current tense situation. Either it is allocated from the budget or from the bank, each dollar and each sum is the peoples’ money,» Shavkat Mirziyoyev has said.

The strict instructions have been given to direct funds only to those projects that will be profitable, will increase the population’ incomes, and will create jobs.

According to the issues discussed at the videoconferencing, the khokims (governors and mayors) presented their road map-based plans.