«Influence and pressure from criminal structures on business has recently increased. It used to happen before, but now it is becoming more frequent,» Askar Sydykov, Executive Director of the International Business Council, said during a roundtable today.
According to him, there is an increase in imports and a decrease in exports now in Kyrgyzstan. The negative trade balance trend continues. At the same time, government spending is growing significantly. This creates the risk of taking more money out of the economy than needed. It may turn out that the economy and business will have nothing to invest in development and growth. After all, additional tax assessments and payment of advance taxes are now actively underway.
«In the medium term, it is necessary to reduce government spending and create conditions for economic freedom. According to the Economic Freedom Index, we are moderately free. Although, the same Kazakhstan is free. A lot of good things are said, many necessary reforms are named, but in practice this is not being implemented. Even the adopted normative-legal acts largely do not comply with the stated. There is no coordinated and consistent state policy. We sometimes learn about the adopted initiatives after their consideration in three readings or signing,» Askar Sydykov said.
He also told that the level of qualification of civil servants has recently decreased. It worries business. Pressure and checks from law enforcement and regulatory authorities continue.
«We recorded a decrease in the number of inspections at one time, but now we still receive messages from businesses. Enterprises are checked by the most unexpected bodies. For example, when the Tax Service is supposed to conduct an audit, law enforcement agencies intervene. This also applies to large international companies that also send their messages to us,» Askar Sydykov concluded.
