The President of Uzbekistan noted the importance of demonopolizing markets in such areas as electricity, gas, precious metals, mineral fertilizers and transport services. The President also noted that currently only 4 percent of entrepreneurs take part in government procurement.
In order to create free market relations in these areas, as well as provide equal conditions for entrepreneurs in the purchase of raw materials, the President proposed to liberalize these markets.
In particular:
- next year, the process of forming a wholesale electricity market between consumers and state and private power plants will begin;
- the monopoly will be abolished and market mechanisms will be introduced in the field of natural gas supply. Thus, producers and importers of natural gas will be entitled to sell it through the exchange, and wholesale consumers will be able to purchase it. At the same time, the Uztransgaz company will only be providing gas transportation services. The effectiveness of such a policy was demonstrated by the measures taken in the field of uninterrupted supply of gasoline, as a result of which there is currently no shortage of gasoline. The adoption of these measures will contribute to the further liberalization of the gas and electricity market and, in general, to eliminate the shortage of these products;
- state duties on the import of liquefied gas are canceled in order to expand the participation of the private sector in this market;
- from March 1 of the next year, the free sale of silver to producers through the exchange will be introduced;
- number of car manufacturers will be increased in order to increase competition in the automotive industry;
- starting from 2021, 73 excise taxes in the food industry, oil and electrical engineering will be canceled;
- for 24 large state-owned enterprises, transparent requirements for public procurement will be introduced. As a result, local entrepreneurs will be able to sell to these enterprises products worth at least $ 10 trillion UZS annually;
- from now on, all government purchases will be under public and parliamentary control.
The history of economic thoughts attests to the benefits of competition to society and the disadvantages of monopolies.
As Adam Smith first established that competition is good for society as a whole, as it leads to more efficient allocation of resources and their use.
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