Government-by-Government Assessments: Uzbekistan
During the review period, the government made its enacted budget and end-of-year report widely and easily accessible to the public, including online, but not its executive budget proposal. Information on debt obligations, including major state-owned enterprise debt, was not publicly available. Publicly available budget documents provided a substantially complete picture of the government’s planned expenditures and revenue. Budget documents did not include detailed information on expenditures by ministry or information on allocations to or earnings from state-owned enterprises, however it did break down expenditures to support executive offices. However, the government maintained off-budget accounts not subject to audit or oversight. Military and intelligence budgets were not sufficiently subject to parliamentary or civilian public oversight. Detailed information on natural resource revenue was not publicly available. The supreme audit institution met international standards of independence. Audits covered the entire annual executed budget and contained substantive findings and recommendations. The government specified in law or regulation the criteria and procedures for awarding natural resource extraction contracts or licenses and made basic information on natural resource extraction awards publicly available. The government’s sovereign wealth funds had a sound legal framework and disclosed its source of funding and general approach to withdrawals.
Uzbekistan’s fiscal transparency would be improved by:
- Making its executive budget proposal publicly available within a reasonable period;
- Publishing information on government debt obligations, including for major state-owned enterprises;
- Including in budget documents allocations to and earnings from major state-owned enterprises;
- Breaking down in the budget expenditures by ministry or government agency;
- Eliminating off-budget accounts or subjecting them to adequate audit and oversight; and
- Subjecting military and intelligence budgets to parliamentary or civilian public oversight.