Page 199 - "Green Investments and financial technologies: opportunities and challenges for Uzbekistan" International Scientific and Practical Conference

“Yashil investitsiyalar va moliyaviy texnologiyalar: O‘zbekiston uchun imkoniyatlar va muammolar” mavzusida xalqaro
ilmiy-amaliy anjuman materiallari to‘plami (Toshkent, JIDU, 2025-yil 7-may)

Pollution –38/100”. This indicates the need for additional opening and improvement
of the format of publication of environmental and energy statistics.

The EGDI (E-Government Development Index) by the United Nations
assesses the level of e-government development across countries. According to the
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2022 report, Uzbekistan scored approximately 0.727 (out of 1) , ranking 69th
globally and placing the country in the “high” development group. Within the index
structure, Uzbekistan demonstrated a strong performance in telecommunications
infrastructure (TII ≈ 0.778) and moderate achievements in online services
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development (OSI ≈ 0.744) and human capital (HCI ≈ 0.658) .
Nevertheless, the EGDI reveals that Uzbekistan’s e-government services and
infrastructure still have considerable room for improvement, particularly in
enhancing online service delivery for citizens and businesses.

Therefore, the comparative analysis reveals a contrast: Uzbekistan is
significantly advanced in openness of statistics (high ODIN), but has relatively weak
legislation on access to information (low RTI). This means that real data are present
and published, but the mechanism and incentives for citizens and investors to use
these data are limited. Improving RTI (strengthening legal guarantees of access) is
important to increase investor confidence in green projects.

A higher level of transparency is considered to reduce investment risks and,
consequently, to lower the cost of capital. Due to the limited availability of empirical
data, an illustrative analysis of the relationship between the RTI rating and
borrowing costs is provided, based on the methodology of the IFC ESG Bond Study
188
2023 .
With Uzbekistan’s current RTI score of 54, the borrowing rate for green-
energy projects is estimated at ≈ 10 %. Simulations derived from the IFC ESG
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Bonds: Impact Report indicate that improving the score to 80, 100 and 130 would
lower that rate to 8 %, 6.5 % and 5 %, respectively—yielding a saving of up to 2
percentage points.

Strengthening access-to-information rules consistently lowers capital costs—
a phenomenon often labelled the transparency-premium (Figure 1). Simulations
based on IFC methodology show that raising Uzbekistan’s RTI score from the
current 54 to 80, 100 and 130 would reduce green-finance rates from ≈ 10 % to 8 %,
6.5 % and 5 %, respectively. Fitch Ratings reaches a similar conclusion: weak
disclosure standards raise ESG-risk premia demanded by investors.³ In practical

186 (United Nations. E-Government Survey 2022. URL: https://desapublications.un.org/publications/un-e-
government-survey-2022
187 United Nations. E-Government Survey 2022. URL: https://desapublications.un.org/publications/un-e-
government-survey-2022
188 International Finance Corporation. ESG Bonds: Impact Report.
189 International Finance Corporation. URL: https://www.ifc.org/en/publications/2023/esg-bonds-impact

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