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Kyrgyzstan & Uzbekistan News

This Section is contributed by Kazkommerts Securities

September 28, 1998

Latest Kazakhstan Weekly News

o The official Som/Dollar exchange rate was lowered to 21.5956 on September 19, 1998. (Reuters)

o According to the Kyrgyz National Statistics Committee, Kyrgyzstan's industrial output rose 7.7% in January-August 1998 compared to the corresponding period last year.

The same committee reported that deflation in August 1998 was 1.8% while it was 3.2% in July. In January-August 1998, inflation in Kyrgyzstan decreased to 5.4% from 10.2% in the same period of 1997. (Reuters)

o Kyrgyzstan's trade deficit was USD 160.5m in January-July 1998 compared to USD 41.6m in the same period last year. The country's major trading partners in January-July 1998 were Germany, USA, China, Turkey, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Denmark, and Brasilia.

CIS countries account for 48% of Kyrgyzstan's foreign trade. Of the total Kyrgyz exports to these countries, Russia accounts for 42%, and Russia accounts for 40% of Kyrgyzstan's total imports from the CIS. (Reuters)

o The consolidated budget deficit of Kyrgyzstan in January-July was reduced to 521.8m Soms (USD 24.2m) or 3.4% of the GDP after it was 667.8m Soms (USD 30.9m) and 4.8% of the GDP in same period of 1997. (Reuters)

o Kyrgyzstan's Government has announced a tender for the right to develop four minor gold deposits, Reuters reported. These are 100% state owned deposits and were earlier operated by investors who failed to meet their contractual obligations and therefore had their licences withdrawn. One of the fields, the Kuru Tegerrek gold and coper deposit in the south of the country, has reserves of 90 tonnes of gold. Reportedly, around 10 tonnes of gold may be extracted from it using the open-pit method. Another mine, the Bozymchak gold field, also in the south of Kyrgyzstan, holds 20 to 24 tonnes of gold. Two others are located on the border with Kazakhstan, and each holds about 5 tonnes of gold.

o The Head of Kyrgyzstan's presidential administration, Omar Sultanov, addressed the nation on state television on September 20 to explain and seek support for the proposed constitutional changes that will legalise the private ownership of land. Those changes, which also include restrictions on parliamentary powers and media freedoms, are to be put to a nation-wide referendum to be held in October. Sultanov assured his audience that the current five-year moratorium on the sale of land will remain in effect and that 700,000 Kyrgyz citizens who have already received plots of land free of charge will not be required to pay for them. In addition, he said that the country's main natural resources will remain state property. (RFE/RL)

o From September 29, the official Sum/Dollar rate of the Central Bank of Uzbekistan will decrease to 105.43/USD from 104.98/USD last week. (Reuters)

o The national airlines of Uzbekistan and Russia signed an agreement on September 18 establishing joint flights between Moscow and the Uzbek cities of Tashkent, Samarkand, Urgench, and Bukhara. They also signed agreements concerning air cargo on the Moscow-Tashkent-New Delhi route and on introducing special tariffs for flights from Uzbekistan to European and Baltic cities via Moscow, ITAR- TASS reported. Uzbek Airlines' director Aslan Ruznetov told journalists at the signing ceremony that the current Russian economic crisis will not impact the co-operation between the two airlines. (RFE/RL)

o The World Bank has reportedly approved a USD 30m loan to Uzbekistan to fund improvements in the country's health service. The Uzbek government will provide the remaining funding for the project, which focuses on Fergana, Navoi, and Syr-Darya Oblasts. Meeting in Tashkent on September 21 with President Karimov, World Bank Vice President Johannes Linn discussed the Bank's contribution to programs to reverse the shrinking of the Aral Sea. The World Bank provided USD 11m for that program earlier this year. (RFE/RL)

o Uzbekistan plans to produce 4.6 million tonnes of grain next year compared with 1998's target of 4.22 million, Reuters reported. According to its source, the plan was divided between farms and small-scale household producers. Farms are expected to produce 4.0 million tonnes in 1999 and households the remaining 600,000 tonnes. Of the total produced so far this year, farms account for 3.20 million tonnes and households for 593,000 tonnes.(Reuters)