Economic week of Kyrgyzstan – Sept. 2 – 8, 2019

The past week is remembered for such events as the recognition of a noticeable increase in capital withdrawal from Kyrgyzstan, the steps to legitimize halal meat products, the expansion of the country's ties with leading specialists in virtual money, as well as a frank admission that taxpayers were not forced to pay tax early and the desire to introduce the necessary measures to remove from the shadows business.
There is an inflow, but a slow one. This week, the volume of water in the main reservoir of Kyrgyzstan, the Toktogul hydroelectric station, exceeded 17 billion cubic meters. The maximum allowable volume of water is 19.5 billion cubic meters.
According to experts, the current volume of water in Toktogul will be enough for a stable supply of electricity to the republic, and water will be still supplied to the tank, albeit to a lesser extent, until all four units of the Toktogul hydroelectric power station are launched at full capacity. This will happen with the start of the heating season. Then the water consumption will begin to be more than the volume of water inflow and its value will depend on various factors - from the consumed power of industrial enterprises, electricity consumption by the inhabitants of the country, depending on the degree of cooling in winter.
Halal park. The Budget and Finance Committee of the Parliament approved the draft law on the implementation of the project "Halal Meat Park in the Kyrgyz Republic".
According to Minister of Economy of the Kyrgyz Republic Sanjar Mukanbetov, the proposed project was developed on the initiative of the Ministry of Economy as part of the implementation of the "Concept for the Development of the Halal Industry in the Kyrgyz Republic". 296 meat processing enterprises are officially registered and operate in the republic, 90% of which are mini-enterprises - small-capacity enterprises.
The Islamic Development Bank is ready to provide USD 10 million for the implementation of the project on the halal industry in Kyrgyzstan as part of the implementation of the project "Halal meat park in the Kyrgyz Republic".
"We need to create or modernize existing slaughterhouses and bring them into line with international standards. In this direction, the ministry reached an agreement with the IDB group on the joint development of a feasibility study for the project to build a modern halal meat park," the minister said.
It was announced that IDB is ready to allocate USD 380 thousand for the development of a feasibility study of the park, while the contribution of the Kyrgyz side will amount to USD 50 thousand.
Country needs. According to the legislation of Kyrgyzstan, there are 14 products that are included in the country's food safety list. The republic can provide itself with some of them only partially, in particular fuel and lubricants and wheat.
This week, during a meeting of experts of the statistical services of the CIS member states in Bishkek, chairman of the National Statistics Committee of the Kyrgyz Republic A. Sultanov spoke about the main products from the list of food security that the country cannot fully provide itself with.
The head of the National Statistics Committee of the Kyrgyz Republic said that the list "includes meat, bread, tea, butter, water, etc. From non-food - fuels and lubricants. The fact is that the main problem of ensuring food security is the import of fuel and lubricants and wheat. Some we can partially provide. But the main problems are this," he said.
Sultanov also said that the department daily carries out work to determine prices for the main products, there are 20 items in the list.
IT specialists from China. The highly professional specialists, who work with Alibaba, a well-known Chinese e-commerce company, came to Kyrgyzstan for the first time, confirming that e-commerce performance in Kyrgyzstan has gone up markedly. This is confirmed by the facts according to which mining companies in the Kyrgyz Republic already consume electricity, comparable to the cost of entire housing estates in Bishkek.
The delegation from China, represented by highly qualified specialists in the field of IT-technologies, Internet-finance, as well as distributed registry technology (Blockchain), visited Kyrgyz National University. At the university, they met with students and faculty and talked about innovations in the digital world and their work.
The purpose of the visit of the delegation to Kyrgyzstan is to provide technical assistance in improving the CADEX trading platform. This includes improving security, increasing transaction speed, adding new trading tools, modernizing the provision of trading services.
Withdrawable capital. This week, for the first time, it was publicly announced at the country's parliament session that all large businessmen of the Kyrgyz Republic began to withdraw their capital abroad.
Minister of Economy of the Kyrgyz Republic Sanjar Mukanbetov confirmed that over the past few months, the investment climate in Kyrgyzstan has really worsened.
"This is due to the work of Kyzyl-Ompol, Salton-Sary fields and the events that took place on August 10. This leaves a heavy imprint on the investment attractiveness of the country," Mukanbetov said. The main reason is seen in the situation that has developed around foreign companies that are engaged in mining operations and whose work is very dissatisfied with residents of nearby settlements.
Business and shadow. This week, the Ministry of Economy of the Kyrgyz Republic submitted for public discussion a draft resolution of the Government "On approval of the Plan of measures to reduce the level of the unobserved sector of the economy for 2019-2021".
According to the document, the goals of the Action Plan to reduce the level of the unobserved economy sector for 2019-2021 are to reduce the level of the unobserved economy sector to 22.6% of GDP by 2021 and eradicate the reasons that prompt economic entities to go into the shadows, as well as minimize corruption risks and creating favorable conditions for doing business.
Financial integration. Last week, a conference of the Association of Central Securities Depositories of Eurasia and the International Association of CIS Exchanges took place in Bishkek: "Integration Processes in Financial Markets: Eurasia and the Global Economy" with the participation of leaders and leading experts in the field of exchange and depository activities from CIS and far abroad countries.
It was attended by heads and representatives of central depositories and exchanges, countries such as: Armenia, Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Georgia, Iran, South Korea, China, Turkey and many others, as well as representatives of international settlement and clearing organizations, news agencies, regulators, and SWIFT.
The main goal of the event is the exchange of useful knowledge, ideas, skills and experience.
Kabar News Agency