Kyrgyzstan’s economic week Apr. 8-13, 2019

Chinese investments. In Kyrgyzstan, the bulk of direct investment from China in 2018 was directed to manufacturing enterprises — more than 56%.
According to preliminary estimates by the National Statistics Committee, 96% of investments were involved in the production of refined petroleum products, 29% in mining, and about 15% in geological exploration.
In the total volume, the inflow of foreign direct investments from China last year compared with 2017 decreased by 19% and made more than $ 245 million.
"Despite the decline in the volume of investments received from China, they still make the main share in the total volume of foreign direct investments in the republic (in 2018 - 43%, in 2017 - 49%)," the report said.
The decrease in the volume of Chinese investments, as the experts of the committee explain, is due to their significant reduction in geological exploration - by 2.6 times, and the mining enterprises - by 4%.
Tax monthly campaign. The State Tax Service of the Kyrgyz Republic in order to strengthen work to collect and reduce tax debts, write off bad debts, in April 2019 announced the monthly campaign "Lets reduce debts for tax!".
Within the framework of the month, the territorial tax authorities will focus their efforts on collecting debts for tax, reducing them, using a series of effective measures.
Bishkek housing - prices. According to data of the State Registration Service of the Kyrgyz Republic on the country's real estate market in March 2019, in total 1,265 transactions of sale of houses and apartments were registered in Bishkek, which is less by 12.94% than in the same period last year. At the same time, the number of transactions with individual residential houses (-27.31%) and with apartments (-7.67%) decreased.
Cost of square meter of residential buildings (47 thousand 529 som / m2) decreased by 11.81%, and dollar ( $ 681 / m2) by 13.8% than in 2018. Individual residential buildings in March 2019 fell in price (-11.64%). If in March 2018 the average price of a residential building in Bishkek was $ 63 thousand 220, over the year it fell to $ 55 thousand 860.
Industrial products – 2018. In 2018, industrial enterprises produced products in the amount of KGS 250.6 billion, the volume of production compared with 2017 increased by 5.4%. Excluding enterprises for the development of the Kumtor deposit (148.4 billion soms), the physical volume was 107.3%.
A positive contribution to the formation of GDP from industrial production is estimated at 1.0 percentage points, including enterprises developing the Kumtor deposit. The share of industry in the structure of GDP production was 18.6%.
The expected level of industrial production for 2018 has been reached and in fact has developed by 3.7 percentage points more.
Czechs and Kyrgyzstan. Within the framework of the Kyrgyz-Czech Business Forum, Kyrgyz Minister of Economy Oleg Pankratov and Czech Industry and Trade Minister Marta Novakova signed an agreement on cooperation between the two departments.
Forum participants noted that the possibility of expanding the juridical base by concluding two international documents will make it possible to intensify interaction between the two countries in such areas as trade, investment and entrepreneurship.
Within the framework of the Business Forum, which was organized by the JIA Business Association and the Embassy of the Czech Republic in the Kyrgyz Republic, the investment potential of the Kyrgyz Republic was presented
The contribution of miners. In 2018, the volume of production in the mining industry of the Kyrgyz Republic amounted to KGS 19.8 billion, the volume of mineral extraction increased by 8.1% compared to 2017, the share in the total industrial production was 7.9%.
Coal mining in comparison with 2017 increased by 430.9 thousand tons (by 23%) and amounted to 2 306.4 thousand tons of coal in the amount of KGS 2.9 billion (125.2%).
Crude oil and natural gas production in 2018 amounted to KGS 4.1 billion (117.5% compared to the corresponding period of 2017), while 200 thousand tons of oil and 27.3 million m3 of natural gas were produced, an increase from the previous year - by 18.1% and 5% respectively.
At the end of 2018, metal ores were produced in the amount of KGS 11.9 billion, the share in the industry was 4.7%.
Total revenues to the state budget from the mining industry in 2018 amounted to KGS 1 billion 865 million and compared to 2017 increased by KGS 215.6 million.
New from RKDF. The Russian-Kyrgyz Development Fund launched a new loan product - the Kyrgyz-Russian Business Partnership.
The interest rate on this investment loan is 4% per annum in US dollars, 8% per annum in KG soms. The term is up to 10 years for investment purposes. The loan "Kyrgyz-Russian Business Partnership" can be issued in the amount of more than $ 200 thousand in the country's regions, and from $ 1 million in Bishkek.
"And the most important, we return up to half of the paid interest to entrepreneurs who have successfully implemented their projects and repaid the loan in a timely manner," the report said.
GDP. The gross domestic product of Kyrgyzstan in January-March 2019 tentatively amounted to more than KGS 104 billion and increased by 5.3% compared to the same period of 2018.
According to data of the National Statistics Committee of the Kyrgyz Republic, excluding enterprises for the development of the Kumtor field, the GDP volume in January-March 2019 amounted to about KGS 91 billion and increased by 1.4%.
The volume of industrial output amounted to more than KGS 64 billion and increased by 14.2% compared with January-March 2018 due to the growth in production of metal ores (2.2 times), coal (by 29.5%), crude oil and natural gas (by 16.9%), production of base metals (by 40.1%), clothing (by 29.2%), and other non-metallic mineral products (by 9.3%).
Positive trends were recorded in agriculture, where volume growth amounted to 1.8%, in construction - by 3.1%, and also in wholesale and retail trade - by 4.2%.
About foreign trade. The foreign trade turnover of Kyrgyzstan in January-February 2019 amounted to about $ 885 million and decreased by 11.1% compared to the same period of 2018.
According to data of the National Statistics Committee of the Kyrgyz Republic, while exports amounted to $ 236 million, decreasing by 0.3%, imports amounted to $ 648.6 million, decreasing by 14.5%.
The volume of mutual trade of the Kyrgyz Republic with the EAEU member states in January-February 2019 amounted to more than $ 306 million and decreased by 10.7% compared with January-February 2018.
At the same time, there was a decrease in both export deliveries by 24.8% and import receipts by 4.9%.
The largest share of the republic’s mutual trade with the EAEU member states was in Russia (58.1%) and Kazakhstan (40.4%).
More coal. In 2018, Kyrgyzstan produced 431 thousand tons of coal, and compared with 2017, the production volume increased by 23%.
Deputy Chairman of the State Committee for Industry, Energy and Subsoil Use of the Kyrgyz Republic, Zhyrgalbek Sagynbayev, said this week that "the increase in production is due to a larger number of overburden operations, as well as an increase in the number of specialized equipment for coal mining."
He explained that the volume of industrial production for the extraction of coal and brown coal (lignite) for 2018 amounted to 2893 million soms (rate of 125.2%), while 2 million 306.4 thousand tons of coal were produced or 123% of coal the corresponding period of 2017.
More gold. Over the past 5 years, the issuance of licenses for field development has increased 2.5 times in Kyrgyzstan.
Deputy chairman of the State Committee for Industry, Energy and Subsoil Use Zhirgalbek Sagynbaev told reporters that as of the end of 2018, there were 2,531 licenses in the Kyrgyz Republic, of which 1,262 were for development, 1001 were for exploration, 268 were for searches. He recalled that at the end of 2013, this figure was 1042 licenses.
"By the end of 2018, gold production amounted to 20 thousand 403 kg amounting to more than 50 billion soms without refining. (Kumtor Gold Company in January-December 2018 produced 16,626 kg of gold, amounting to 46,143 million soms). It should be noted that 9 companies: Altynken, KAZ MineralsBozymchak LLC, FulGoldMining LLC, Vertex Gold Company LLC, etc. exported ore concentrate in 2018. In 2018, 71,143 tons of 5,183 kg of gold, 13,684 kg of silver and 9,851 tons of copper, as well as 79,407 tons of ore containing 595 kg of gold, were exported in the form of concentrate," he said.
The state debt. As of Feb. 28, 2019, the state debt of the Kyrgyz Republic amounted to $ 4 billion 484.15 million, the press service of the Ministry of Finance of the Kyrgyz Republic reported.
$ 3 billion 827.53 million (266 billion 642.34 million soms) is the state external debt, $ 656.62 million (45 billion 742.66 million soms) is the national internal debt.
Rating in Doing Business. In the Doing Business 2019 rating, the Kyrgyz Republic, compared with the Doing Business 2018 report, improved its position by 7 positions, ranking 70th among 190 countries.
The annual rating prepared by one of the World Bank divisions reflects the state of the environment for doing business in different countries and is one of the benchmarks for improving results aimed at creating favorable conditions for doing business and improving the investment climate.
At the same time, according to the results of the Global Competitiveness Report for 2018, the position of the Kyrgyz Republic in this index improved by 5 positions (97th place) compared to last year, the number of countries participating in the study in the reporting period was 140 (in 2017 - 137 countries).
Exporters database. This week, the ceremony of launching of the first portal - the Database of Companies Providing Services in the Sphere of Foreign Trade, was held at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Kyrgyz Republic.
The new project was developed with the support of the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) regional program - "Trade Facilitation in Central Asia" and is aimed at providing support in finding partners and providing the necessary information about business services for foreign trade.
Head of the business education center of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Kyrgyz Republic Rustam Baltabaev, this database will allow domestic and foreign companies engaged in export-import and transit operations to find in one place a wide list of Kyrgyz companies providing services in the field of forwarding, transportation, logistics and insurance, brokerage and other necessary services for the successful promotion of their products.
Kabar News Agency