BISHKEK, MARCH 9 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan’s finance minister Adylbek Kasymaliyev asked the Eurasian Fund for Stabilisation and Development to double its aid to $427m to help the country weather both an economic downturn and the impact of joining the Kremlin-led Eurasian Economic Union.
Remittance inflows to Kyrgyzstan have fallen by 40%, the som currency has lost 25% of its value and major infrastructure projects have been cancelled over the past six months.
Mr Kasymaliyev said Kyrgyzstan had already spent more than the $255m of loans and grants that the Fund, managed by the Eurasian Development Bank had given it.
“We have already surpassed our limit of $255m by allocating $260m. For this reason, we have asked the Council to raise the limit to $427,” Mr Kasymaliyev told local media.
The funds will be used for a range of projects, including agriculture.
Importantly, though, analysts said that although Kyrgyzstan needed to protect itself against the regional economic crisis, it was under extra pressure from its entry last August into the Eurasian Economic Union. The government said the trade block, which includes Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Armenia, would improve conditions for Kyrgyz business.
Instead, though, businesses have complained it has exposed them to unfair competition.
Ayilchy Sarybayev, an analyst based in Bishkek, said the cash would be used to subsidise Kyrgyz farmers.
“The fund is being raised because small and medium enterprises cannot compete with Kazakh and Russian ones now,” he said. “Kyrgyz entrepreneurs have started buying (more expensive) agricultural equipment from Kazakhstan and Russia (rather than from China).”
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(News report from Issue No. 271, published on March 11 2016)