|
Uzbekistan
The Economy
Chief among the causes of dissension and despair in Uzbekistan
is the country's economic situation. According to United Nations
(UN) figures, in 1994 Uzbekistan was one of the poorest of the
developed countries in the world, with the average monthly wage
less than US$50. But vast natural resources suggest the potential
for Uzbekistan to become one of the most prosperous countries
in Central Asia, provided the necessary reforms can be made to
unleash that potential. At the end of the Soviet era, Uzbekistan
was rated as one of the least industrialized Soviet republics.
Government reform, with the theoretical goal of achieving a market
economy, moved cautiously and unevenly in the directions of industrialization
and market reform in the early 1990s. By the mid-1990s, signs
indicated a more serious reform effort (see table 6, Appendix).
Data as of March 1996
|
