On June 26, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev reviewed measures to reduce the share of the shadow economy.
In recent years, systematic efforts have been undertaken in this direction. In particular, special and territorial commissions to combat the shadow economy have been established, risk analysis and segmentation systems have been introduced in the tax and customs authorities, several legislative gaps that had enabled shadow transactions have been eliminated, and measures to encourage conscientious entrepreneurs have been strengthened.
As a result of the implemented measures, the non-observed economy’s share has fallen from 35% to 23% over the past two years, and the number of formally employed individuals has surpassed 8.5 million.
At the same time, the share of the shadow economy still remains high.
The 2030 goals aim to cut the shadow economy by half, boost formal employment to 14 million, and increase cashless payments to 75%.
Earlier, the head of state instructed the relevant bodies to create a unified digital platform that would use artificial intelligence to display shadow economy risks, potential budget losses, and additional revenue sources by sector and region, and to identify and eliminate factors contributing to shadow transactions.
To achieve these objectives, the Prosecutor General’s Office developed the Shadow Economy Map platform and launched it in pilot mode.
The platform aims to boost budget revenues and sustain a healthy competitive landscape by detecting shadow transaction risks and allowing responsible authorities to oversee their eradication across 22 key economic sectors, 85 areas, 14 regions, and 208 districts and cities.
To identify shadow economy risks and potential budget losses by sector and region, the platform has been integrated with the information systems of 16 ministries and agencies, enabling real-time processing of all data.
Based on the platform’s analytics, sectors and regions will be automatically classified into “green”, “yellow”, and “red” categories according to the level of shadow-economy risk and potential budget losses.
The platform also automatically identifies risks such as operating without a license, concealing actual turnover, jobs, and payroll, and understating profitability and profit figures.
