Uzbekistan’s New Development Strategy – 2030 sets out very ambitious objectives including the one to double the country’s GDP and joining a group of an upper-middle income countries by 2030. To this end, Uzbekistan’s spending needs are large, and the funding options will require careful consideration. According to the Development Finance Assessment (DFA) produced in 2020 the SDG financing gap in Uzbekistan is around USD 6 billion annually.

In this context, UNDP has been supporting the Government of Uzbekistan to develop Integrated National Finance Framework (INFF) - a framework to help build more holistic approach for mobilizing and aligning public and private finance with national objectives, and strengthen the dialogue and collaboration across the government, the private sector and civil society. One of the building blocks of the INFF is the Financing Strategy that has been drafted in consultation with the national and international stakeholders.

The overall purpose of the Integrated National Financing Strategy is to provide a new integrated approach to managing public and private financing flows needed to achieve national development priorities and SDGs in Uzbekistan. The novelty of this approach lies in its integrated nature, by suggesting a) how to enhance coherence of existing policies to increase overall impact, and b) how to mobilize more private and public financing from domestic and external sources. The strategy also focuses on how to get more development results from the resources that are already available, including by planning more strategically the interventions where public funds can be catalytic and leverage more private resources. It will not replace the existing methodologies and tools that the country already uses. Instead, it provides a rational framework to align specific instruments with the broader financing strategy, to avoid fragmented decision-making, better aligned efforts, and to identify gaps and opportunities for resource mobilization. In general, this strategy can be used to promote coherence by centralizing the otherwise sectoral debate around financing approaches into one overarching policy framework and incentivizing collaboration. The Strategy also comes with a roadmap for its operationalization, in a collaborative and participatory manner.