Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Kyrgystan's economic crisis has reached an all-time high as inflation, a drop in global oil prices and monetary crisis have ravaged the country's foundations.

A Kyrgyz official has warned that an estimated 37 percent of the population now lives below the poverty line, according to research conducted in 2013.

Akylbek Osmonoliyev, the chairman of the national statistical committee said earlier at a parliament session that the poor make up more than two percent of this number, compared with 2012 - a growth of 1.6 percent.

He said the cost value of the general poverty line last year amounted to 27. 768.5 thousand som per year per capita, while extreme poverty was set at 16. 249.1 som per year per capita.

Kyrgyz economy, along with some other Central Asian countries, is highly dependent on gold production, money remittances from labor migrants, transit trade, and external aid.

After independence in 1992, Kyrgyz economy and public services were hit hard by the break-up of the Soviet economic zone and the end of subsidies from Moscow.

Following the adoption of economic reforms, the economic situation slightly improved, but the situation is still not heartwarming, especially after Russia's economic downturn.

In between high inflation and the depreciation of its currency - the som - Kyrgystan has been hit hard, making life very difficult for a large section of the population.

The Kyrgyz people are not satisfied with the current economic situation, said a mini-survey carried by KirTag news agency.

“Today, it has become very difficult to live. If we could by a week worth of food supply for a thousand som before, money has become so worthless now that we need thousands and thousands to buy the same amount of food. Prices have jumped and people don't have enough money anymore, "said hairdresser Ase lOsmonova, a resident of Bishkek.

Nikolay Bubnov, a trade agent agreed that the rise in food prices and a chronic shortage of funds had made life difficult. “Over the past year, according to my observations, prices rose by 10-15 percent. As a result, my wife and I spend on food at least 60-70 percent of the total family budget,” he said.

Thus, many Kyrgyz have been forced to make sacrifices to keep food on the table, using most of their financial resources to do so.

Economic growth in Kyrgyzstan slowed to 4.1 percent in the first half of 2014 from 7.9 percent in the same period in 2013. The expansion in the industry slowed to 7.2 percent from 13.8 percent a year earlier, reflecting a decline in glass, cement, and mining other than gold, according ADB’s 2014 year report.

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Sara Rajabova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @SaraRajabova

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