At the same time, the global average indicator of trade freedom has been declining for the fourth year in a row.
Uzbekistan has significantly improved its position in the ranking of trade freedom included in the Index of Economic Freedom. This was reported by the Agency for Strategic Development.
“Reforms in the field of optimization of tariff and non-tariff barriers (reduction of tariff rates, simplification of customs and regulatory restrictions), according to preliminary results, have improved the position on the benchmark “Freedom of Trade” by 20.2 points. And this is in the context of an ongoing pandemic,” the agency noted.
Uzbekistan’s trade freedom index was 75.6 points. According to this indicator, the country left behind the USA, Russia, China and Japan by a small margin. For comparison, last year the republic took only 163rd place.
According to the Heritage Foundation research Institute, the global average indicator of free trade has been declining for the fourth year in a row. This year, the drop was more than one point – from 70.9 to 69.5.
Only 37 countries were able to improve the indicators by softening the tariff policy. In particular, China earned 2 points at once by reducing the weighted average tariff rate to 3.4% and increasing the number of preferential trade agreements to 16.
The data are included in the Index of Economic Freedom 2022, which is being prepared for publication— an annual rating of the level of freedom in economic activity, compiled on the basis of a number of indicators of the economy and related spheres.
In the overall rating of the Index of Economic Freedom for 2021, Uzbekistan took the 108th line, rising by 6 positions for the year. Several areas for work were noted, in particular, the improvement of the judicial system and the granting of freedom of international trade.
Analysts pointed out that tariff and non-tariff barriers greatly hinder development, the country is not a member of the WTO. The average tariff rate was at a fairly high level — 14.8%.
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