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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Kyrgyzstan
Index
Kyrgyzstan's principal exports include wool, hides, and cotton (which
combined to provide nearly 80 percent of total exports in 1994), together
with electric power, electronic products, ferrous and nonferrous metals,
food products, and shoes. Besides fuels, the largest volume of imports is
in construction materials, ferrous metals, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, and
machinery. The largest CIS trading partners are Russia, Kazakstan, and
Uzbekistan, and the largest non-CIS partner is China (see table 15,
Appendix). The predominance of barter agreements makes quantification of
the latter relationship approximate, however. Of the estimated US$44
million of trade with China in 1994, less than one-quarter was in cash.
During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Kyrgyzstan's economy was highly
dependent on external trade. Total exports and imports in 1991 amounted to
nearly 80 percent of the country's GDP, but by 1993 that total had shrunk
to 52.5 percent. External trade, which in the early 1990s was conducted
principally with the other republics of the former Soviet Union, resulted
in a large trade deficit, mainly because of the need to obtain petroleum
products and natural gas at the much higher prices of post-Soviet markets.
During the first years of independence, the deficit from interrepublic and
hard-currency (see Glossary) trade was about 20 percent of GDP.
In 1994 Kyrgyzstan substantially liberalized state regulation of trade.
All export and import license requirements, the issuance of which was the
center of recurring corruption rumors in the early 1990s, were eliminated
excepting some hazardous materials. Export taxes, which had been levied
mainly in retaliation for Russian export taxes, were reduced or
eliminated, and plans called for their complete elimination by the end of
1995. Import duties on goods from non-CIS countries were fixed at 5 to 15
percent; there are no duties on goods from within the CIS.
The Ministry for Industry, Trade, and Material Resources is the chief
agency for obtaining goods for export and distributing imports. Until the
liberalization of 1994, a number of government-signed clearing agreements
with former Soviet republics set terms for barter agreements that often
avoided the problems caused by late payments. In 1993 such an agreement
with Russia exchanged raw cotton, wool, and tobacco and scrap metal for
petroleum products, wood, and metal products. Another agreement with
Uzbekistan brought natural gas and fertilizers in exchange for nonferrous
metals, electrical products, and butter. A third example is the
coal-for-electricity arrangement with Kazakstan (see Energy, this ch.).
Commodity values for such agreements usually were close to world levels,
but the rigid procurement methods required for such bilateral trades have
distorted the rest of the national economy.
In 1994 Kyrgyzstan's foreign trade decreased by 16.6 percent (to US$93.4
million, after a drop of 65 percent in the 1992-93 period) for exports and
by more than 50 percent (to US$52.6 million) for imports. Trade with
non-CIS partners showed a surplus, but more than 85 percent of trade still
was transacted with CIS nations. Although the condition of the domestic
economy did not seem to favor an upturn in foreign trade for 1995, Kyrgyz
policy makers expected that increased foreign assistance would improve the
trade situation somewhat.
In February 1994, Kyrgyzstan joined with Kazakstan and Uzbekistan in
creating the Central Asian Free Trade Zone in reaction to the collapse of
the new ruble zone proposed by Russia in late 1993. Although not the full
organization of Central Asian nations that had been envisioned by
intellectuals since before independence, this exclusively economic
agreement was able to abolish trade barriers among the partners
immediately, and trade between Kyrgyzstan and Kazakstan increased in 1994.
But further conditions on credit, prices, taxes, customs, currency
convertibility, and creation of a common economic zone in the Fergana
Valley, the vital economic region shared by the three partners and
Tajikistan, were delayed throughout 1994 and the first half of 1995.
Kyrgyzstan has announced its intention to join the World Trade
Organization (WTO--see Glossary), successor to the General Agreement on
Tariffs and Trade (GATT).
Data as of March 1996
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