At the ninth plenary session of the Senate, the report of the Cabinet of Ministers dedicated to the execution of the state program on the implementation of the Development Strategy in the nine months of 2020 was heard.
The senator Malika Qodirkhonova's asked the Deputy Prime Minister Jamshid Kochkarov why in spite of the number of licenses and permits for certain activities having decreased, Uzbekistan did not improve from 132nd place in Dealing with construction permits category and from the 152nd place in the Trading across borders category in the Ease of Doing Business Ranking.
“We have a lot of work to do on licensing. We need to take a lot of steps. Indeed, Uzbekistan is placed very low in the Dealing with construction permits and Trading across borders indices. Therefore, we want to introduce a new licensing procedure, and we believe that by continuing this work, we will improve in the said indices,” Jamshid Kuchkarov said.
According to the Deputy Prime Minister - “Improving in rankings is not done for the sake of window dressing. It is done to make it easier for our people, the businessmen.”
"Also, for example, yesterday the Ministry of Finance issued Euro bonds. Prior to the issuance of Eurobonds, we had to confirm our sovereign rating in talks with Standard & Poor's, Fitch rating agencies every six months."
"For example, if around 100 countries have ratings (I don't know exactly how many, to be honest), in 2020 the agencies have downgraded the ratings of around 50-60 of them. Many countries saw their ratings downgraded, while Uzbekistan's has not. BB- is not really a good rating, but a rating that speaks of our real level. We got this rating in 2019 for the first time, and we still have it."
"The sovereign rating is the ultimate ranking actually: it has the getting electricity, construction, foreign trade - it is the ultimate evaluation. Yesterday, the Ministry of Finance borrowed US$ 555 million through Eurobonds - at 3.7 percent for 10 years."
"Even a man of the street can see that thiss money is just like a soft loan, in market conditions. In 2019, we also issued 500 million of 10-year bonds. But then we borrowed at over 5 percent, and now it’s 3.7 percent. What does this speak of? This is one of the results of the policies pursued by our respected President".
