Uzbekistan's Natural Gas Crunch Squeezes State Coffers

Uzbekistan is grappling with a natural gas production crunch, putting pressure on state coffers. In February, Tashkent sharply reduced gas supplies to China, according to a March 28 report published by the UzDaily.uz website. The drop in export volume resulted in a sharp downturn in earnings, from $38.77 million in January to $18.6 million in February, according to data published by China’s General Customs Administration. The February 2024 figure was still better than earnings during the same month the previous year, during which no gas export…