The Sequencing and speed of Reforms in Transition Economies: Implications for the Case of Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan has made significant progress in its transition to a market economy since 2017, achieving advancements in macroeconomic stabilization, trade and exchange rate liberalization, price liberalization, and small-scale privatization. Despite these successes, challenges remain in reforming and privatizing large state-owned enterprises and banks and fostering a competitive market environment with easy market entry and exit. Future reforms should focus on entrenching macroeconomic stability, completing trade and price liberalization, hardening budget constraints for state-owned enterprises and banks, enhancing their corporate governance, accelerating privatization, and redefining the state's role to support private sector development.