BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21
By Klavdiya Romakayeva - Trend:
The main share of offshore transfers in Uzbekistan from January through April 2021 fell on Tashkent, amounting to $33 million, Trend reports referring to Uzbek media gazeta.uz.
According to the protocol №30 of the government commission on the development of exports and investments on May 7, Uzbek enterprises for 4M2021 imported $103 million worth of products, making payments to offshore zones.
It is reported that Uzmakhsusmontazhkurilish Joint Stock Company has issued payments to Hong Kong for the import of metal semi-finished products for $12 million and Uzeltehsanoat enterprises have issued payments for $5 million for the import of liquid crystal modules (screens), compressors for refrigerators, elevators and conveyors to Hong Kong, Cyprus and the Virgin Islands.
Also, enterprises of the Uzpromstroymaterialy association issued payments worth $2 million for the import of packaging machines, oil and foil goods to the British Overseas Territories, the Marshall and the Virgin Islands, to Hong Kong and Gibraltar.
In the context of regional enterprises, the main share of such transfers for the reporting period fell on Tashkent ($33 million), Fergana ($23 million), Namangan ($6 million) and Surkhandarya ($4 million) regions.
It is noted that companies from these regions purchased medicines, special equipment, equipment, oil products through money transfers to Hong Kong, Cyprus, the Marshall and Bahamas, British Overseas Territories, Malta, Gibraltar and Liechtenstein.
The protocol notes that the deputy heads of Uzmakhsusmontazhkurilish, Uzeltekhsanoat and Uzpromstroymaterialy, as well as assistants to the governors on the localization of production and expansion of cooperation ties in the industry in Tashkent, Fergana and Surkhandarya regions, allowed a sharp increase in imports through payments to offshores. They are warned that they will be dismissed from their posts if they do not eliminate the shortcomings at the end of the first half of the year.
In November 2019 the State Tax Committee of Uzbekistan reported that the outflow of currency and the growth of overdue receivables are associated with the transfer of money to dubious offshore zones.
In October 2020, the State Oil Company and the Central Bank of Uzbekistan expanded the list of offshore zones, foreign exchange transactions with which are subject to monitoring.
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