The number of newly created enterprises has tripled in Uzbekistan since 2016, when President Shavkat Mirziyoyev came to power to start ambitious reforms opening up the Central Asian country for business, the State Statistics Committee said.

The number of new enterprises exceeded 61,000 in 2021 compared to 19,000 in 2016, the committee said adding that it does not include newly formed farms and family-based small farms.

Uzbekistan has removed obstacles for private businesses that were in place for more than two decades and scrapped a number of administrative measures in recent years.