The National Statistical Committee of Kyrgyzstan presented the results of the social and economic development of the republic for seven months of 2018. The figures are not encouraging. The economy of Kyrgyzstan is slowing down.
Economy under the influence of Kumtor
In January-July, 2018, Kyrgyzstan’s GDP was 260,457.8 billion soms. Compared with the same period of 2017, GDP growth slowed down by 0.2 percent.
The National Statistical Committee noted that the services sector accounted for the largest share in the structure of GDP — 47 percent. The share of industry is 20 percent, agriculture — more than 10 percent, construction — more than 6 percent.
Excluding the enterprises developing Kumtor, GDP amounted to 236,188.8 billion soms with a growth of 2.2 percent compared to 2017.
«The situation in the economy is heavily influenced by Kumtor. If the mine developed a gold-rich vein, produced a large amount of gold, had a huge export, then the growth rate of the economy reached 7-8 percent last year. This gave a high base in 2017. This year, Kumtor is developing a poor gold layer. As a result, we have such indicators because of the effect of the last year’s high base and a low gold production,» explained the Economy Minister of Kyrgyzstan Oleg Pankratov to 24.kg news agency.
«It is expected that development of a gold-rich vein will begin at the mine by the end of the year and the situation will begin to improve. We will reach the GDP growth of 3-4 percent by the end of the year,» the head of the Ministry of Economy assured.
Industrial weirdness
The indices in the industrial sector are also not very encouraging and are directly related to the indicators of the country’s largest gold mining enterprise. So, according to the results of seven months of 2018, industrial output in Kyrgyzstan made up 126,555.2 billion soms. This is 8.6 percent less than in 2017.
Excluding Kumtor, the volume of industrial output amounted to 81,487.1 billion soms with an increase of 2.9 percent compared to 2017. This means that the industrial sector of Kyrgyzstan still takes the leading positions in terms of growth rates among the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union.
The growth was ensured by textile production (1.7 times), production of petroleum products (by 32.7%), clothing (by 26.7%), rubber, plastic products, and other non-metallic mineral products (by 20.7%).
Alcohol rises in price, lemonade becomes cheaper
Since the beginning of the year, the consumer prices and tariffs in Kyrgyzstan as a whole have decreased by 0.8 percent. But compared to July 2017, prices in the republic increased by 1.1 percent.
Since the beginning of the year, the maximum increase in prices and tariffs was registered in Naryn region — 2.9 percent. They also grew in Osh (1 percent) and Issyk-Kul (0.5 percent) regions.
In addition, the growth of prices for food and non-alcoholic beverages (by 1.5 percent) continued in Naryn region in July, while a fall in prices was recorded in other regions.
Builders have the highest wages
According to the National Statistical Committee, the nominal average salary in Kyrgyzstan is 15,665 soms. In comparison with 2017, the indicator grew by 6.6 percent. At the same time, the average salary in the budget-funded sphere is 12,395 soms, and in the private sector is 21,397 soms.
The most significant growth in the average monthly salary was registered in construction (16.3 percent), other services sector (21.6 percent), information and communication (15.1 percent).
Wages grew also in the public administration and defense, compulsory social security (11.7 percent), mining (10.9 percent), wholesale and retail trade, car and motorcycle repair (10.1 percent), professional, scientific and technical activities (9.5 percent), real estate transactions spheres (9.4 percent).
