JUNE 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – On a trip to Bishkek, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) president Suma Chakrabarti said that it planned to invest $70m in Kyrgyzstan to boost its investment climate. Mr Chakrabarti highlighted the need for investment in local currency and capital markets.
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(News report from Issue No. 234, published on June 4 2015)
JUNE 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Defence minister from CSTO member states flew into Dushanbe for their annual meeting, set to begin on June 4. The Collective Security Treaty Organisation includes Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 234, published on June 4 2015)
JUNE 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan’s government has slashed its economic growth forecast for 2015, Reuters reported.
It said that rather than the bullish prediction of growth at 6.2% in 2015, up from 3.6% in 2014 because of increased output at the Kumtor gold mine, growth would actually slow to 2%.
This reduced economic growth rate will also increase the size of its budget deficit, Reuters reported. This will rise to 5.7% of GDP from 3.3%.
Reuters said the new figures had been noted on Kyrgyz government documents.
Kyrgyzstan’s economic woes are shared by other countries across the region. It is strug- gling to deal with the fall-out from a downturn in Russia’s economy triggered by the doublehit of a sharp fall in oil prices around the world and also the impact of sanctions imposed by the West on Russia for its meddling in Ukraine.
Remittances from workers labouring in Russia are one of Kyrgyzstan’s main currency earners. The World Bank has said that this is likely to be down by 40% on 2014.
At a meeting with reporters in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan’s economy minister Oleg Pankratov explained the severity of the downturn.
“Our main partners are in deep crisis due to the rouble’s plunge … and economic sanc- tions,” she said, according to Reuters.
“Our migrants have started to transfer less cash.”
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(News report from Issue No. 234, published on June 4 2015)
MAY 25 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Traffic on Kyrgyzstan’s roads is growing by about 5% a year, Oleg Pankratov, Kyrgyzstan’s minister of economy, said. Mr Pankratov also said he wanted to introduce some way of charging foreign cars a fee for using Kyrgyzstan’s roads.
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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)
MAY 27 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan’s gold and currency reserves have dropped to $1.8b, down from 2.1b in March 2014, media reported quoting the Central Bank chief Tolkunbek Abdygulov. The drop is due to Kyrgyzstan selling gold and cash to prop up its currency. Like its neighbours, Kyrgyzstan has been struggling to deal with a steep decline in the Russian rouble and the Russian economy.
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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)
MAY 26 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Rupert Colville, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that Kyrgyzstan should drop a draft law that will make cooperation between local and foreign NGOs more complicated. “This vague wording may put at risk numerous organisations working to deliver services or conduct human rights advocacy,” he said.
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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)
MAY 26 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Kyrgyz Central Bank cut its interest rate to 9.5% from 11%, the first cut since 2013, because of a slowdown in consumer price inflation.
It did warn, though, that despite a slight economic improvement, the country faced uncertain times.
“There has been economy a slowdown in inflation. At the same time, economic growth continues to be influenced by external factors,” it said in a statement on its website.
“The economic situation in the country’s main trading partners is uncertain and continues to impact the slowing economic growth of our own country through foreign trade and remittances.”
Kyrgyzstan, like the rest of the region, has been coping with a slowdown in Russia’s economy, triggered by a sharp fall in oil prices. Remittances from Kyrgyz working in Russia is a major part of Kyrgyzstan’s economy. This has dented the value of the Kyrgyz som and accelerated inflation.
Overall, the Central Bank said that inflation had slowed to 6.4% in April, down from 10.5% at the end of 2014.
The Central Bank also said that GDP growth for January to April had measured 7% because of an increase in production at Kumtor, a gold mine. Without Kumtor’s contribution, GDP growth would have measured 4.2%.
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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)
MAY 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – China’s Export-Import Bank has agreed to give a loan of $185m to Kyrgyzstan to help it build a road and tunnel between the north and south of the country, media reported. China has been funding more and more projects in Kyrgyzstan.
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(News report from Issue No. 232, published on May 20 2015)
MAY 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – At a meeting in Brussels focused on human rights, the EU criticised new legislation passing through Kyrgyzstan’s parliament that outlaws promoting gay relationships.
The legislation is similar to laws brought in by Russia two years ago. Analysts have said Bishkek may have been motivated to introduce the rules by a desire to cosy up to the Kremlin.
The criticism of gay rights in Kyrgyzstan came the day after anti-gay rights protesters in Bishkek attacked a pro-gay rights meeting being held in the garden of an upmarket Bishkek hotel.
Over the past few years, the West has watched as Kyrgyzstan, once its poster-boy in Central Asia, has moved increasingly towards Russia. This month it also joined the Kremlin-led Eurasian Economic Union.
As well as criticising Kyrgyzstan over its gay rights record, EU officials also praised the country for trying to clamp down on torture in prison and improving women’s rights.
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(News report from Issue No. 232, published on May 20 2015)
MAY 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The number of Western tourists travelling to Kyrgyzstan has increased from 57,000 in 2013 to 86,000 last year, media quoted Kyrgyz government officials as saying. Officials said the introduction of a visa-free regime in 2012 had helped increase numbers.
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(News report from Issue No. 232, published on May 20 2015)
