Deputies support idea of National Bank to increase penalties for exchange offices

After much debate, the deputies supported a bill to increase penalties for exchange offices in the second reading. The decision was taken today at a meeting of the Economic and Fiscal Policy Committee.

According to the document, the penalties increase up to 150-200,000 soms. The National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic believes that such measures will reduce the shadow turnover of money. In 2015, the National Bank submitted similar document, but deputies rejected it. This year the bill was initiated by parliamentarians themselves. However, in the second reading the representatives of the exchange bureaus addressed to the Parliament, arguing that they won't be able to operate normally if the law is adopted. They asked the deputies to postpone the adoption of the document to re-examine the pros and cons.

"I don't believe that the question should be postponed. The bill was widely discussed. It is necessary to restore order in the currency market. Even if the examination of the document is postponed, the National Bank won't change its position," the head of the National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic Tolkunbek Abdygulov said.

Deputies twice put to the vote the proposal to postpone consideration of the issue first for two weeks, then for a week. But in the end, the majority of votes approved the bill in second reading.