IFPRI CA NEWS DIGEST (JUNE 17 – JUNE 23, 2014)

News and Analysis

Kazakh Non-Oil Exports Expected to Increase

(Astana Times, 19 June 2014)  Kazakhstan is planning to diversify its export profile through a program aimed at providing assistance to small and medium-sized businesses.  The State Programme of Accelerated Industrial and Innovative Development-2 (SPAIID-2) is intended to support exporters through overseas promotion and marketing, analytical support, and credit.  Currently, 15 commodity items comprise 92 percent of Kazakhstan’s total exports.  Moreover, approximately 80 percent of Kazakh exports are destined for a group of 10 countries.

Kyrgyzstan steps up aid to farmers

(Central Asia Online, 17 June 2014) Favorable loans from the government have helped farmers in Kyrgyzstan make appropriate investments this year. Long-term loans with an average annual intereste rate of 9%—about half the rate of most loans in Kyrgyzstan—have been tapped by farmers for a total of nearly $75 million.

Kyrgyzstan to Introduce Drip Irrigation

(Times of Central Asia, 19 June 2014)  The government of Kyrgyzstan plans to implement drip irrigation more widely, according to First Deputy Prime Minister Taiyrbek Sarpashev.  Drip irrigation is currently being used in 80 greenhouses in the northern Chui province.  Installation for one hectare costs approximately 50,000 soms ($1,000). 

Kyrgyzstan focuses on exporting organic food

(Central Asia Online, 20 June 2014) Farmers in Kyrgyzstan, who tend to avoid using herbicides, chemical fertilizers, and growth hormones for livestock, are exploring export opportunities to markets with high demand for organic products. Farmers have been signing agreements to export to Turkey, Kazakhstan, UAE, and the EU.

EBRD Helps Improve Water Supply in Tajikistan

(Times of Central Asia, 20 June 2014)  The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has completed a project to improve the water supply in Khujand, Tajikistan’s second largest city.  The project was conducted over two phases and was funded by grants from the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and loans from the EBRD.  Tajik municipalities have often been unable to capitalize on the nation’s plentiful fresh water supplies because of corroding infrastructure and poor funding.

Central Asian Countries Pledge Action on Climate Change

(Eurasia Review, 19 June 2014) Government and civil society representatives from all five Central Asian countries convened at the Second Central Asia Climate Knowledge Forum in Almaty to discuss a regional strategy for climate change adaptation and mitigation. 

Pensions in Central Asia: Old and cold

(The Economist, 19 June 2014) An interesting article analyzes struggles of Central Asian governments with the provision of essential services particularly to pensioners. The article highlights few pivotal causes of the problem such as the relative size of the informal economies in the countries and emigration of workers, which do not contribute to state budgets, and rising population of elderlies, which puts increasing pressure on available pension budget.

Park returns home from Central Asia trip

(Yonhap News Agency, 21 June 2014) President of South Korea Park Geun-hye returned from six-day trip to Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan which led to the signing of a series of agreements worth billions of dollars and calling for closer cooperation on major economic projects currently under way as well as new projects in areas ranging from energy and power to infrastructure and agriculture. Park's visit to Central Asia came eight months after she proposed the "Eurasia initiative" as a key part of her administration's foreign policy agenda. The initiative calls for building more infrastructure and freeing up trade between Eurasian nations to create what could become a large single market rivaling the European Union.

Black Sea wheat exports to decline by three percent in 2014-15

(Business Recorder, 22 June 2014) Wheat exports from Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan is expected to decline by 3 percent in the 2014/15 marketing year as a smaller sown area and lack of ready financing was partly offset by favorable weather. Particularly, Kazakhstan, central Asia's largest grain producer, is expected to export 7 million tonnes of wheat, including flour, down 12.5 percent year-on-year, with crop at 14.5 million tonnes, up 4 percent. Kazakhstan, which sows mainly spring grains, has said the area planned for spring wheat was 300,000 hectares smaller this year than last year after some farmers switched to sunflowers.

Publications

Poverty Reduction and Shared Prosperity in Tajikistan: A Diagnostic

(Azevedo, J. P., Atamanov, A., and A. Rajabov, World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 6923, June 2014)

Abstract: Tajikistan was one of the fastest growing countries in the Europe and Central Asia region during the last decade. The economic growth was widely shared by the population and as a result poverty (measured by the national poverty line) declined from 73 percent in 2003 to 47 percent in 2009 accompanied by falling inequality. Consumption growth of the bottom 40 percent of the population -- a measure of shared prosperity proposed by the World Bank- was positive, pointing out that the growth was shared among the less well off. This work presents a diagnostic of shared prosperity and poverty reduction in Tajikistan during 2003-2009. The paper also focuses on quantifying the main drivers of poverty reduction, shared prosperity, and intra-generational mobility (class transitions). Some of the mechanisms of poverty reduction are explored in detail. Finally, main impediments to inter-generational mobility are discussed.

Labour migration from Central Asia to Russia – State Management of Migration

(Myhre, M.H., Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research (NIBR) Report No. 2014:5, June 2014)

Abstract: This report investigates the Russian state’s management of labour migration from Central Asia. It explains recent law amendments and also brings in the perspective and experiences of relevant nonstate actors. What are the aims and means of the Russian state in this policy field, how does it go about achieving its aims and what are the side effects, problems and insufficiencies of state policy?