The Government has a strong interest on the telecommunications sector and aims to make the country a digital hub in Central Asia. As of January 2022, following the public administration reforms and digitisation of the sphere, 56% of public services are provided through the portal of interactive public services (e-government portal). Despite the country facing several tremendous challenges, such as market liberalisation, geographic and gender gaps, the Government has set ambitious goals, and the ICT sector is expanding rapidly. The economy has become more open and market-oriented since the launch of widespread liberalisation reforms in 2017.

The banking and financial services sector led a rapid transition towards a more digital economy, thanks to the E-Commerce Development Program for 2018–2021 (ECDP). As a result, Digital Financial Services were identified as a strategic area.

The main goals are improving the enabling environment by easing the ability to receive payment from third parties, promoting electronic payments, and developing the digital financial services sector.  The Government also plans to transition the banking sector from public to private capital, with a target of privatising 60% of the banking industry by 2025.

The ICT sector’s contribution to the GDP was 2.1% in 2023 in Uzbekistan. Despite this modest number, the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors has approved in Q4 2023 a $50 million concessional loan to implement the Uzbekistan Digital Inclusion Project. If we take a closer look, it shows that the country has made significant progress in ICT, and  since 2016 from $440 mln it has grown to $1.7 bln in 2023 (https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2023/11/30/world-bank-to-support-uzbekistan-in-developing-the-digital-economy-and-creating-new-jobs-in-the-it-sector).

Uzbekistan has invested steadily in its technology ecosystem in the past years, including Internet access, mobile communications, helping IT companies, and other related areas. Ongoing development goals include improving the investment climate by reducing state regulation and assuring property rights.

As a result, the gross value added in the ICT sector increased more than two times between 2017-2021. It reached 11.8 trillion UZS (around 1 billion and sixteen million EUR) in 2021, according to the State Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan on Statistics.

The industry’s export volume  growth was enormous; $344 mln in 2023 from $140 mln in 2022 according to a report by the World Bank that was released on March 19th 2024. Uzbekistan now aims to become the Central Asian IT hub and boost IT service exports to $5 bln by 2030.

Since the creation of IT park in Uzbekistan, the number of residents increased from 147 to 1,652 and 26,000 young people work there currently.  By the end of 2023, IT Park Uzbekistan underwent significant changes; fully automated its business processes, implemented international corporate standards, and established English as the primary means of communication.(https://it-park.uz/en/itpark/news/results-of-2023-transformation-and-plans-for-2024)

IT Export

In Uzbekistan there are currently 551 ICT companies (IT and BPO) that export services to the US, UK and Europe, MENA and APAC region. The majority of the companies are located in Tashkent (83%).  From the 551 exporting ICT companies, 305 export IT services, about 2,226 export BPO services and 20 export software products. The export volume has reached 344 mln USD. (Source: IT Park)

The Worldbank data shows that about 14.2 million people (2023) were in labor in Uzbekistan, which accounts for 56.2% of the adult population (2020). It is higher than the world average, but it has decreased since 1996, from 68,39%. Compared to men, in 2021 women accounted for nearly half of the working population (41.3 per cent of total employment) according to ilo.org.

The unemployment rate was 4.33 % in 2023, and it decreased from 5,3 % in 2020. But the 15-24 age group has untapped potential as the unemployment rate is reported at 13.2 %, according to Worldbank.

Labor cost

The average monthly salary in Uzbekistan was 3,882.20 UZS (Uzbek Sums) in 2022 which exchanges to about 299.57 EUR. Across all sectors, men earn about 7% more than women.

Bonuses vary between 3-6%, but only 37% of employees receive them. (https://www.salaryexplorer.com/average-salary-wage-comparison-uzbekistan-c232)

Software developer salaries

The monthly average salaries for the As per payscale.com the yearly salaries for software developers start at about 10,400 EUR, and can reach up to 52,000 EUR, while the average is about 22,000 EUR per year. This is very attractive not only for Western markets but also for markets in Eastern Europe, like Poland, Romania or Ukraine.