The Cabinet of Ministers allocated additional funds to support small and medium-sized businesses and the garment industry. The First Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Kyrgyz Republic, Daniyar Amangeldiev, told journalists as part of the Open Cabinet project.
According to him, supporting small and medium-sized businesses is a key element of the state development program through 2026, as SMEs account for 51.7 percent of the country’s economy.
He recalled that in late 2025, domestic garment manufacturers encountered problems due to border delays and difficulties with cargo certification.
«Goods got stuck in transit, which led to a working capital shortage at enterprises: manufacturers were unable to promptly launch new stages of production, as funds from goods not yet delivered were not returned to circulation. With the average market interest rate on loans hovering around 19-20 percent and the average margin in the garment sector not exceeding 15 percent, servicing commercial loans became unaffordable for businesses.
A proposal was submitted to the President of the Kyrgyz Republic to subsidize rates and reduce them to an average of 10 percent. This would have been a completely fair rate. However, the President instructed to reduce it to 6 percent, and accordingly, the program was adopted at 6 percent. Subsequently, after a personal meeting between the President and sector representatives, he decided to further subsidize the rate from the reserve fund. As a result, at the beginning of the year, our entrepreneurs received support at a zero percent interest rate,» Daniyar Amangeldiev said.
Responding to journalists’ comments that some businesses had gone bankrupt, the Deputy Cabinet Chairman stated that this was not the case.
«Despite certain difficulties and risks, the situation was under the control of the country’s leadership. Government business support programs have demonstrated extremely high demand: the financial resources allocated for these purposes were exhausted ahead of schedule in the first quarter of 2026. In this regard, the Cabinet of Ministers is signing another funding package totaling 680 million soms. These funds will be used to subsidize interest rates, which will attract approximately 4.5 billion soms from the banking sector to support businesses,» Amangeldiev added.
