Kyrgyzstan

The Kyrgyz legal system has roots in Soviet and continental law. Kyrgyzstan has been a State Party to UNCAC since 16 September 2005. It is a member of the Eurasian Group on Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism (EAG). Since 2004, Kyrgyzstan’s criminal bribery offences have been externally reviewed under the Monitoring Process of the OECD Anti- Corruption Network for Eastern Europe and Central Asia (ACN).  To avoid duplication, this report will refer to the ACN’s monitoring reports and the EAG’s mutual evaluation reports whenever appropriate.

Article 3 of the Constitution of Kyrgyzstan prohibits all discrimination on the grounds of gender, ethnic origin or religious belief. Article 8 recognises the existence of certain discriminatory traditions or customary norms that are obstacles to gender equality in the country. The civil, penal, labour and family codes of Kyrgyzstan all uphold equal rights and the legal framework protecting Kyrgyz women’s rights complies with international standards. Discrimination against women prevails, however, and violence against women is becoming increasingly widespread. Women are generally ill-informed about their rights and the traditional patriarchal system perpetuates gender-based stereotypes.

This chapter presents the results of the household survey. The survey covers experience with green financial instruments, access to and use of formal banking services, including credit and use of mobile banking. It also provides insights on differences in financial behaviour and experience by region, level of education and gender. The key findings shed light on the experience of households with formal financial instruments, including green instruments. It examines perceptions of respondents around barriers for taking out a green loan, including the role of high interest rates, short lending terms, insufficient collateral and inconvenient repayment schedules. It also explores other barriers such as awareness, knowledge and understanding of green investment.

Since 1991, the Kyrgyz Republic has made significant progress in offering an attractive environment to foreign investors. It has a stable political environment, low inflation, recent and projected growth rates of at least 6 per cent per annum, and has made significant improvements in the legal regime regulating foreign investment. The Republic had initially no foreign investments in 1991 but by the end of 1997 these approached $250 million. Substantial further investment is expected in mining, energy production, agri-business, light industry and tourism in the future. The Investment Guide for the Kyrgyz Republic has been prepared with three objectives: firstly, to identify the opportunities which are likely to interest foreign investors; secondly, to provide the investor with relevant information on the historical, political, economic, financial and legal framework, and thirdly to draw attention to areas of policy and legislation where additional measures will further increase its comparative advantages as an investment location.

This chapter gives a brief overview of the economic, political and demographic background of the Kyrgyz Republic and its educational context, and outlines the rationale, structure and main findings of the present report.

Three scenarios for reform of surface water abstraction and water-body use charges 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.

Most point-source water pollutants are currently tackled by a range of pollution fees. However, this instrument is not effective for managing diffuse pollution, when individual polluters cannot be identified or monitored. Examples of pollutants that most contribute to diffuse pollution of water resources in Kyrgyzstan include pesticides, mineral fertilisers and machinery lubricants with mineral oil. These are all prone to leaching and have contaminated both surface and groundwater without much control to date.

This chapter proposes some institutional arrangements for managing the Clean Public Transport Programme as an investment programme. It begins by outlining good practice in setting up institutional frameworks for large environmental investment programmes. It suggests a three-level institutional structure comprising: 1) a programming entity; 2) an implementation unit; and 3) a technical support unit. It also suggests a possible division of responsibilities across these three entities, and describes the minimum operating regulations required to manage the programme. Finally, the chapter reviews the barriers to implementation in the form of regulations and policy distortions and suggests ways of addressing them.

This chapter suggests interventions that can help improve access to and use of green financial products and services in the Kyrgyz Republic. Policy can play a role in making green investments more attractive. The central bank can consider mandatory requirements for financial institutions to improve their environmental governance, such as adequate pricing and disclosure of climate risks. Several other interventions are outlined, such as subsidies for climate and disaster risk insurance and information on green financial instruments within Kyrgyz financial literacy strategies. The chapter also presents options to provide long-term risk capital and alleviate collateral constraints through scaling up credit guarantees. This would especially help those household members that are individual entrepreneurs.

Since 1992, higher education in the Kyrgyz Republic has gone through profound changes. Student numbers have increased massively (from 10% to almost 50% of their age cohorts) with almost half of them studying in some form of distance or part-time arrangements. Public Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have become hugely dependent on private fees. Although the great majority of students attend public HEIs, less than 20% receive state aid, a large proportion of which is earmarked for teacher training. The absence of a strategy for the development of the sector has meant that there has been no evolution of appropriate quality assurance or of accountability mechanisms for HEIs. Science and research activities are spread among a myriad of small institutes run by the Academy of Science and the line Ministries or within the HEIs, thus fatally dissipating the very small amount of funding available for research. The chapter briefly describes the system, raises some critical issues and suggests policy options for discussion on what kind of system is appropriate at a time when the country urgently needs to improve its competitiveness through the availability of well educated human capital.

This chapter examines changes of recent years in the governance and administration of the system. It explores the relation between the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Education and Science, the rayons and the local and municipal authorities, and looks into the forward planning capacities of the education system. The review team expresses serious concerns about the lack of capacity within the MOES to assess the systems’ needs and to monitor reforms, and gives recommendations on improvements to make governance, management and associated financing more efficient.

The National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic expressed interest in working with the Organisation for Economic Co‑operation and Development (OECD) on an analysis of household savings and investment behaviour. Ultimately, it wanted this analysis to help the Kyrgyz banking sector embed climate change into financial decisions and macroeconomic analysis. The bank monitors several indicators of financial sector breadth such as branch, automated teller machines and deposit penetration. Savings behaviour and the particular demands of the Kyrgyz population for financial products and services, however, are still little understood.

This report presents the main findings and conclusions from the project on “Low-Carbon Public Spending at the National Level in Kyrgyzstan: Designing a Green Public Investment Programme”, implemented within the framework of co-operation between the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Kyrgyz Republic (henceforth, also Kyrgyzstan), as well as the GREEN Action Task Force, for which the OECD provides a secretariat.

Kyrgyzstan has taken huge strides since gaining independence in 1991. Having embarked upon a rapid transition to a market economy, it has been equally bold in developing the political and social institutions of a modern democratic state. Although progress has not always been smooth, recent elections have demonstrated the growing stability of Kygyzstan’s political system, while its economy has shown great resilience in recent years.

In the Kyrgyz Republic education is widely perceived as key to development and to the prosperity of the young generations. Supported by the development partners, the Kyrgyz authorities are planning and implementing an ambitious reform agenda, and parents are investing a substantial part of their family’s budget in the education of their children.