Uzbekistan Economy Grows 8.7% in Q1 2026

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) — Uzbekistan’s gross domestic product grew by 8.7% in real terms in the first quarter of 2026 compared to the same period last year, according to preliminary estimates.

In current prices, GDP reached 447.9 trillion soums between January and March 2026. The GDP deflator index stood at 110.6% compared to the first quarter of 2025. Price growth was most pronounced in industry, at 115.8%, and in agriculture, forestry, and fisheries at 113.2%. More moderate inflation dynamics were recorded in construction at 104.7%, transport and communications at 104.8%, trade and hospitality services at 106.0%, and other service sectors at 107.4%.

The main driver of economic growth was gross value added, which accounted for 95.4% of GDP and increased by 8.7%, contributing 8.4 percentage points to overall growth. Net taxes on products accounted for 4.6% of GDP and grew by 8.2%, adding 0.3 percentage points.

Structural shifts in the economy were relatively modest. The share of industry increased from 27.8% to 29.2%, and construction from 6.1% to 6.2%. At the same time, the share of services declined from 57.6% to 56.2%, while agriculture, forestry, and fisheries edged down from 8.5% to 8.4%.

Agriculture expanded by 5.1%, supported by growth in crop production, livestock farming, and a 6.8% increase in fisheries output.

Industrial output generated value added of 124,852.4 billion soums, rising by 8.0%. Manufacturing remained the key growth driver, expanding by 9.1%.

Construction demonstrated the fastest sectoral growth, increasing by 15.0% to 26,393.0 billion soums. Within the sector, building construction rose by 16.3%, civil engineering projects by 10.1%, and specialized construction works by 14.0%.

The services sector continued to show steady expansion, with value added reaching 240,079.0 billion soums, an increase of 8.8%. Strongest growth was recorded in trade at 19.4%, information and communication services at 18.3%, transport and storage at 12.3%, and hospitality at 8.4%.

Within trade, retail accounted for 45.6% of value added, wholesale trade for 33.8%, and motor vehicle-related operations for 20.6%.

Transport contributed 6.0% to GDP, with road transport dominating at 57.5%, followed by auxiliary transport activities at 16.2%, pipeline transport at 9.7%, rail transport at 8.6%, and air transport at 8.0%.

GDP per capita reached 11,692.5 thousand soums, growing by 6.7% in real terms.

The ICT sector accounted for 3.2% of the economy, led by programming and consulting services at 50.1%, communications at 31.3%, data processing and web portals at 10.9%, software development at 4.8%, and equipment repair at 2.9%.

Small businesses remained a major component of the economy, generating 45.6% of total value added, equivalent to 194,762.0 billion soums. Their largest contribution came from services (58.0%), followed by agriculture (17.6%), industry (14.0%), and construction (10.4%).

By sector, small business accounts for 94.6% of agricultural output, 77.0% of construction activity, 47.1% of services, and 21.8% of industrial production.

The non-observed economy, including household activity and the informal sector, amounted to 102,682.9 billion soums, or 22.9% of GDP, down from 24.8% a year earlier. Of this, households accounted for 15.4% of GDP, while the shadow economy represented 7.5%.

The highest concentration of non-observed activity was in agriculture at 81.1%, followed by services at 24.5%, construction at 23.9%, and industry at 6.7%.