Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Specialists from the Institute for Forecasting and Macroeconomic Research (IPMI) conducted a study to assess the impact of investments in infrastructure sectors on economic development.

Based on foreign experience, IPMI experts estimated the elasticity coefficients of investments in such sectors as healthcare, education, electricity and water supply, transport, transmission and processing of information on the growth dynamics of the economy of Uzbekistan.

Calculations were carried out on data including investments in relevant sectors and gross regional product for 14 regions of Uzbekistan in the period from 2010 to 2021 by building paired regression models on panel data.

According to the results of the study, it is scientifically substantiated that in Uzbekistan:

- investments in the development of all six infrastructure sectors have a positive effect on economic growth;

- investments in infrastructure associated with the growth of human capital have the highest level of elasticity (return): with an increase in investments in the education and health systems by 1%, GRP increases by 0.52% and 0.43%, respectively;

- investments in transport and digitalization are important for the development of the economy: an increase in investment in these sectors by 1% leads to an increase in GRP by 0.32% and 0.30%, respectively.

At the same time, the elasticity coefficients of investments in electricity and water supply are significantly lower than those in other infrastructure sectors: with an increase in investments in the sector by 1%, the volume of GRP grows by 0.16% and 0.08%, respectively. 

This may be largely due to the long-term effect of returns from these sectors on economic growth. However, one should not forget that these sectors are basic, i.e. without their development, it is rather difficult to expect economic growth and positive results from investments in other infrastructure sectors.