MP doubts that all 7 million foreigners who visited Kyrgyzstan in 2018 were tourists

AKIPRESS.COM - MP Iskhak Masaliyev doubts that all 7 million foreigners who visited Kyrgyzstan in 2018 are tourists.
"According to your report, 7 million tourists visited Kyrgyzstan in 2018. If all those foreigners were tourists, Kyrgyzstan would get rich. But they are not all tourists," he said at the parliament meeting discussing the government's report for 2018.
If 7 million tourists spent at least $100 in Kyrgyzstan, it would bring the budget $7 billion, MP said suggesting that this is just the number of foreigners who crossed the border of Kyrgyzstan.
He suggested to assess the government's report as unsatisfactory and said the internal debts are increasing annually: $322 million in 2016, $429 million in 2017, $569 million in 2018. Annually domestic debt is growing by $120 million, he said. "At the same time, you said external debt has been reduced by $350 million, but the Minister of Finance could not answer how they managed to do so," said the MP.
Inflow of investments made $569 million, or by $45 million less than in 2017, which is a negative moment for the economy, said Masaliyev.
Opening of 260 enterprises is not the government's work, it's the achievement of private entrepreneurs, he said.