Kyrgyzstan Country Portrait
Kyrgyz Republic is one of the five Central Asian States. It occupies an area of 198,500km2 and has a population of 4.5 million. It borders Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and China to the east.
For quite a long time this territory was a part of Turkestan. In the 1920’s, Kyrgyzstan became part of the Soviet Union, as an autonomous republic, and in the 1930’s became a Soviet Socialist Republic within the USSR.
In 1991 Kyrgyzstan acquired state sovereignty and became a democratic republic. The Basis of the democratic state is the Constitution, adopted May 5, 1993, which orients Kyrgyz Society towards social-economic reforms.
The head of the country is the President, being publicly elected for a term of 5 years. The Legislative body – Jogorku Kenesh consists of two houses: Legislative Assembly and Assembly of People’s Representatives.
The Republic is divided into 6 provinces (oblasts): Chui, Osh, Talas, Jalal-Abad, Naryn. Each oblast is headed by a governor, appointed by the President of the Republic.
The capital of the Republic, Bishkek city, administratively has a status of municipal city. National currency is Som (48 Soms=1US$ as of April 19, 2000). A rapid transition of Kyrgyzstan to market economy began after the introduction of the national currency in 1993.
The transition to market economy caused a crisis situation, and decreased indicators of human development. The most difficult was the period of 1993-1995. Economic hardships, caused by the transition to market, sharpened by disruption o f economic relations with countries of the former USSR. Kyrgyzstan selected the policy of social economic reforms, which by the beginning of 1996 resulted in stabilization of the situation. GDP in 1996 increased 11% compared to 1995, Gross Industrial Prod uction increased 29.9%, agriculture croppage increased 15.4%, per capita income increased 4.3%. A gradual increase occurred in 1997, 1998 and 1999. But factors, influencing improvement of the economic situation are not stable.
As many countries with transition economy, Kyrgyzstan is still facing social - economic hardships. Kyrgyzstan is attempting to solve problems, inherited from the period of it’s history, when it was a part of the USSR. Correcting the rem nant of this unitary economic complex is complicated by the problems, related to building independent, state-wide processes of reformation of all spheres of the society.
In such a way Kyrgyz Republic at present is moving toward elimination of crisis, stabilizing of social-economic processes. As a sovereign state, Kyrgyz Republic looks to further development of international relations and cooperation with countries of the world to support its position in the world community and progress of its reforms. A stable, effective excellent education system is necessary for these reforms to be achieved.
Last update: April 2000
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