Poverty reduction in Uzbekistan will become “a nationwide movement”, president Shavkat Mirziyoyev said at a meeting on reducing poverty on Wednesday.
According to the president’s press secretary Sherzod Asadov, the head of the state announced the development of a program called “From poverty to prosperity”, based on “seven opportunities and the principle of responsibility”.
Shavkat Mirziyoyev emphasized that the reasons for falling into poverty are different, so the approaches should also be different.
He noted that four years ago, when the country launched a major anti-poverty program, 23% of the population, or 7.5 million people, were living below the poverty line.
Since then, the population has grown by 3.7 million and the poverty line set in the legislation has increased by 1.5 times (currently 648,000 soums, or around $50, per month). Nevertheless, thanks to ensuring 3.5 million people with income, as of the end of 2023, the poverty rate was at 11%.
The coverage with social protection has increased 4.5 times — from 466,000 to 2.2 million people. 12.3 trillion soums were allocated for these purposes last year. The amount of pensions and allowances has increased by 1.5 times, the president said.
35 trillion soums of soft loans and 7 trillion soums of subsidies have been allocated for poverty alleviation in mahallas (neighborhoods) and entrepreneurship projects.
120 trillion soums have been provided for the improvement of mahallas, kindergartens, schools, medicine, roads, water and electricity infrastructure.
In addition, 260,000 hectares of land have been allocated to 800,000 citizens, mainly young people, to engage in agriculture as a source of income.
Shavkat Mirziyoyev emphasized that the efforts to reduce poverty are not the same in all regions and districts of Uzbekistan.
In 15 districts across the country, the poverty rate exceeds 20%, he said. These are Amudaryo, Beruni, Qonlikul, Nukus, Takhtakopir, Khojeyli, Chimboy, Guliston, Mirzaobod, Oqoltin, Sardoba, Gurlan, Yangiariq, Yangibozor and Tuproqqala districts. These districts were allocated 1.7 trillion soums in soft loans and grants over three years but could not use the funds purposefully.
