The role and importance of public-private partnership in the evolution of the development of the state economy

Abstract

The role of the state in the economy has shifted from owner and producer to regulator and partner, and public-private partnership (PPP) has become the institutional form of this shift. The study tests the hypothesis that PPP supports the transition from state ownership to strategic governance only when accompanied by fiscal discipline, using historical-comparative and document analysis and descriptive statistics (World Bank PPI, IMF SIP/2025/087, IMF data on state-owned enterprises (SOEs), Q1 2026 PPP registry). The signed value of PPP contracts in Uzbekistan reached about USD 31 billion (27% of GDP) at end-2024, about 93% of it in energy, with direct and contingent liabilities estimated at 15% of GDP; the number of SOEs fell from 2,965 to 1,917 in 2020–2026, yet SOE assets still amount to 101% of GDP. A four-function model of PPP and five principles of fiscally prudent PPP policy are proposed.