Kirghizistan
Following the shock of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the disruption caused by the rapid transition to a market economy, Kyrgyzstan is enjoying a period of economic and political stability. However, the decline in income poverty has slowed over the past decade and certain measures of broader deprivation are alarmingly high, reflecting the challenge of improving services in a context of severe fiscal constraints. Tight labour market conditions are resulting in high levels of international migration, which is a boon for the Kyrgyz economy but socially disruptive. Major long-term threats related to demographics and climate change are on the horizon.
This chapter looks at access and equity issues: the urban/rural divide; general secondary and vocational education tracks; and the risk of dropping out. It also covers the provision of education for children at risk and those with disabilities and discusses integrated and inclusive learning. Finally, the chapter recapitulates the open issues and recommends policy measures for addressing them.
This report presents findings from a survey on green finance conducted among 1 000 households in the Kyrgyz Republic (Kyrgyzstan) in 2019. Although green finance is an emerging trend, knowledge about the appetite for green financial products and services in Kyrgyzstan is almost inexistent. The OECD prepared the household survey to close this gap in evidence. The research identified needs and demand from existing and potential clients of Kyrgyz financial institutions for financial instruments, including those that promote sustainable development. This will help commercial banks, policy makers and central bankers design more targeted interventions to increase access to and use of financial products and services, including green finance, in Kyrgyzstan.
This project was undertaken by the OECD with the financial support of the European Union and the governments of Norway and Switzerland. Their contribution is gratefully acknowledged.
This chapter outlines the current assessment instruments applied in the Kyrgyz Republic and the roles of the Kyrgyz Academy of Education and National Testing Centre. It offers recommendations on how to better align the assessment process to include formative assessment and university entrance exams. It also looks at Kyrgyzstan’s participation in international, comparative sample based surveys such as PISA, PIRLS and TIMSS.
Kyrgyzstan made a rapid transition to a market economy following independence from the Soviet Union. However, social protection provision has been much slower to adapt to the post-Communist context, due in part to the social insurance system that it inherited. Although pension receipt is almost universal among the elderly and thus serves as a critical buffer against poverty for them and their families, the cost of maintaining this system has imposed severe constraints on the development of social assistance, social services and labour market policies in place.
This chapter outlines the background to the OECD’s study and the household survey. It describes how the National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic expressed interest in working with the OECD to source new evidence on the extent to which households access and use (green) financial products and services. It describes how the Kyrgyz National Sustainable Development Strategy for 2018-2040 and the Green Economy Program contain targets on sustainable finance. Finally, the chapter presents the socio-economic context of the Kyrgyz Republic, and outlines how the banking sector could help the country achieve its sustainable development goals.
This chapter describes the challenges facing the Kyrgyz banking system. It then briefly explains why financial access and use of formal financial instruments are important for economic development. It suggests ways to increase financial access in the Kyrgyz Republic. Several instruments are proposed to improve financial literacy; to provide affordable, targeted financial products by lowering credit risk, alleviating collateral constraints and pooling demand; to increase trust in financial institutions; and to improve access to physical banking infrastructure. Some of these instruments already exist in the country and could be scaled up. Others have worked in countries from the region and beyond, and could be adopted.
This chapter outlines a vision for a social protection system in Kyrgyzstan. It considers systematisation along a number of dimensions, including institutional, financial and programme-level, as well as the existence of an information architecture underpinning this system. The breadth of social protection programmes and high expenditure levels provide great potential for gains through systematisation but to fully capitalise on these requires rebalancing between different pillars of social protection provision and an increase in expenditure. Such reforms would complete the transition of the social protection provision from its Soviet legacy but the political economy of these measures would be highly challenging.
As in many countries, the economies of Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia (EECCA) have been negatively affected by the global COVID-19 pandemic. Their governments responded by addressing the health impacts and providing relief to affected businesses and workers. Many EECCA countries have also implemented measures that will help advance environmental objectives as part of their rescue and recovery plans. Nevertheless, much more needs to be done to ensure that recovery plans accelerate a green transition, thereby building resilience against external shocks. This policy paper analyses measures related to COVID-19 in 11 EECCA countries based on their potential to advance the transition to a greener, climate-resilient and low-carbon economy. Recommendations suggest ways to ensure that governments align efforts to support economic recovery with their objectives on climate change, biodiversity and wider environmental protection.
The global COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant negative impact on the economies of Central Asia. This updated policy note reports on the latest developments in the region and looks ahead to identify the key challenges likely to be faced by the region’s policy makers in the short-to medium-term. It examines five major economic challenges facing countries as they recover from the COVID-19 crisis –debt sustainability, migration, job retention, private sector fragility, and lack of connectivity –and proposes ways forward.
Preferred scenarios for reform of water supply and sanitation tariffs are often site-specific. For Cholpon-Ata city, two scenarios for reform of water supply and sanitation tariffs are assessed, and impacts of each scenario are synthesised in this chapter. Supporting and accompanying measures are proposed to facilitate implementation – these provide input to the draft Action Plan. Some of the measures are quite universal and could be applied also in other settlements.
This chapter summarises the main findings of the report and the factors that the team considers to have led to the unsatisfactory PISA performance of Kyrgyz students. The chapter lists discreet recommendations with the aim of highlighting a number of overarching, strategic directions for reformative action. The focus should be on improving the quality of the education provided, and on ensuring that administrators and practitioners have the capacity to meet their responsibilities.
This chapter discusses the State Educational Standards (SES), the teaching plans and the syllabuses as main elements of education content (curriculum) in Kyrgyzstan. It also examines the supply, financing, adequacy and development procedures for textbooks and learning materials. The reviewers identify a number of issues related to the structure, conceptual basis and content of the curriculum which seriously impede student achievement and the quality of teaching and learning. The chapter outlines a set of problems related also to textbooks and learning materials which are inadequate to support the curriculum, are in short supply and, where available, are often out of date. The chapter suggests ways to make the curriculum more flexible and coherent, and recommends improvements in the supply mechanisms of learning materials.