IFPRI CA NEWS DIGEST (NOV 3 – NOV 9, 2015)

News and Analysis

WB to allocate $250 mln to Tajikistan for implementation of new cooperation strategy

(AKIpress, 09 Nov 2015) President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon has received Vice President of the World Bank for Europe and Central Asia Cyril Muller in Dushanbe on Monday, reports the press service of the President. The sides exchanged views on the ways of implementation of a news cooperation strategy for 2015-2018, which envisages allocation of $250 million to Tajikistan, mainly, the grants. The special attention was paid to the attracting of investments to the economy of Tajikistan, allocation of loans, grants, technical assistance, cooperation in the implementation of small and large projects, transport, government, economic policy, water supply, private sector, health, education and social protection.

In Tajikistan, GDP growth is expected to decline to 5 per cent in 2015, says EBRD report

(Asia-Plus, 09 Nov 2015) The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)’s Regional Economic Prospects in EBRD Countries of Operations November 2015 noted that the outlook for growth in the EBRD region in 2015 and 2016 has remained broadly unchanged since the EBRD last forecast in May. Remittances from Russia to Central Asia and the EEC continued to decline at rates close to 40 per cent year-on-year in US dollar terms, as predicted in the previous issue of Regional Economic Prospects. According to the report, growth and financial stability in Central Asia in 2015 have been significantly affected by the recession and currency depreciation in Russia and lower prices of oil and other commodities.

China, Kazakhstan want to speed up Silk Road Economic Belt construction

(AKIpress, 07 Nov 2015) China and Kazakhstan agreed on Friday to establish a joint working group to promote the construction of the Silk Road Economic Belt. The sides agreed on production capacity cooperation and to speed up related financing, strengthen communication, promote infrastructure construction including roads and railways, as well as to make better use of the Horgos border check point in China's Xinjiang and the international logistics cooperation base in Lianyungang port of Jiangsu province.

Kyrgyzstan exports about 300,000 tons of vegetables to EEU countries since beginning of 2015

(24 News Agency, 06 Nov 2015) Kyrgyzstan exported about 300,000 tons of vegetables to the EEU countries since the beginning of the year, the head of the Food Safety Policy and Agricultural Marketing of the Ministry of Agriculture Zhumabek Asylbekov said today at a round table "Problems and prospects of development of agricultural sector of Kyrgyzstan in the context of participation in the EEU."

In Tougher Expat Job Market, Tajikistan Must Upgrade Workforce Skills

(Institute for War & Peace Reporting, 06 Nov 15) Low-skilled workers from Central Asia are often the first to be laid off. Tajikistan is hugely dependent on the funds sent home by its expat workforce, but as the Russian economy sheds low-skilled labor, experts are calling for better training so that those travelling abroad have more to offer. Almost all of the one million-plus nationals of Tajikistan working abroad go to Russia, and three-quarters of them are in the building trade. Russia’s construction industry has been hard hit by declining investment, and foreign manual workers are the first to be sacked.

Publications

Asian Development Outlook 2015 – Financing Asia’s Future Growth (ADB, Nov 2015)

ADB's Asian Development Outlook (ADO) 2015 projects that Developing Asia will grow at a steady 6.3% in 2015 and 2016, supported by a strengthening recovery in the major industrial economies and soft global commodity prices. Developing Asia remained the main source of global economic growth in 2014. Domestic policy reform, benign commodity prices, and some strengthening of demand from the advanced economies supported the region’s growth. The steady outlook for the region sees growth picking up enough in India and most member economies of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to compensate for moderating growth in the People’s Republic of China (PRC).  The report details each country in Central Asia, East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

Income Support for the Poorest: A Review of Experience in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (World Bank, Jun 2014) REPOSTING

Most countries in the world aspire to protect poorest and most vulnerable families from destitution and thus provide some type of income support to those who are very poor. These programs are often layered into social policy along with other transfers, subsidies, or services. The way to best provide such last-resort income support (LRIS) and its role in wider social policy is a matter of some complexity, much experimentation, and much study. In Eastern Europe and Central Asia, 28 of 30 countries operate LRIS programs. This study examines the experience of LRIS programs in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.