Press Release No. 09/344

Press Release: Statement by IMF Executive Directors at the Conclusion of their Visit to Uzbekistan

October 14, 2009

A mission of Executive Directors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) comprising Ms. Meg Lundsager, Messrs. Age Bakker, Ambroise Fayolle, HE Jianxiong, Thomas Moser, and Klaus D. Stein issued the following statement on October 14, 2009 in Tashkent at the conclusion of its visit to Uzbekistan:

“We are grateful for the opportunity to visit the country and thank the people of Uzbekistan, the Government and Central Bank of Uzbekistan for their warm hospitality and productive discussions. This visit has provided us with the opportunity to meet with a range of stakeholders, including representatives of the public and private sectors, and visited the cities of Samarkand and Bukhara. This will enhance our understanding at the IMF Executive Board of the challenges facing the country and the IMF’s policy advice.

“Uzbekistan has remained mostly resilient to the global economic crisis as a result of the authorities’ prudent policies that enabled them to accumulate considerable resources to support growth in this period and withstand the impact of the crisis and due to its cautious approach to participation in global financial markets.

“Managing the domestic implications of the global slowdown, which impacted Uzbekistan through lower exports, and containing inflation remains the main short-term economic policy challenge. The authorities have formulated a broad range of measures to stimulate domestic demand and we welcome their policy response.

“Uzbekistan has great economic potential that needs to be utilized in order to sustain higher and broad based economic growth. The key medium-term policy challenge is to utilize the country economic potential aiming at further improving the living standards of the population.

“We support the IMF continuing excellent relationship with the Uzbek authorities.”