EBRD senior economist Ralph De Haas said: "Uzbekistan is expected to grow steadily in 2008 and 2009, but the country’s growth performance remains very dependent on the price development of its main export commodities gold, gas and cotton.”

He said: “The Uzbek Republic is expected to feel the impact of the financial crisis also through a fail in remittances as Uzbek guest workers in countries like Russia or Kazakhstan face an uncertain future with slower growth in these countries too."

The EBRD said growth in the EBRD region was likely to fall sharply in 2009 in the face of global economic slowdown and financial market turbulence and it urged the countries where it invests to place a high priority on the stabilisation of their banking systems.

The EBRD’s Transition Report 2008, which tracks the economic performance and progress on reforms across EBRD countries, predicted overall growth would fall to 6.3% in 2008 from 7.5% in 2007 and drop further to 3.0% in 2009.

The report said growth in the CIS and Mongolia is predicted to slow to 7.3% this year from 8.5% and to drop to 3.4% in 2009.

As earlier reported, International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in October in its World Economic Outlook that Uzbekistan’s real gross domestic product (GDP) will increase by 8% in 2008 and by 7.5% in 2009.

Meanwhile, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said in September, that the economy of Uzbekistan will increase by 8% in 2008 and 2009. The bank published its Asian Development Outlook 2008 Update (ADP Update), which raises projected GDP growth in Uzbekistan for 2008 from 7.8% to 8.0% and for 2009 from 7.2% to 8.0%.