IFPRI CENTRAL ASIA NEWS WEEKLY DIGEST (MAY 27 – JUNE 1, 2015)
News and Analysis
Exchange rates, remittances, and poverty in the Kyrgyz Republic
(UNDP in Europe and Central Asia, 25 May 2015) Article by Ben Slay, Senior Advisor for the UNDP Regional Bureau for Europe and CIS, highlights two possible socio-economic impact of recent developments in the Russian and Kazakhstan’s economies on Kyrgyzstan economy. The first point is about the impact of declining remittances on national poverty rates, and the second is about links between exchange rates of national currencies.
IMF Staff Concludes Visit to the Kyrgyz Republic
(IMF Press Release, 28 May 2015) An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission visited Bishkek from May 21-27, 2015, as part of a regular dialogue with the authorities to assess the performance of the Kyrgyz economy, following approval on April 8 by the IMF Executive Board of a new three-year arrangement under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF). At the end of the visit, Mr. Gemayel, Head of the Mission, issued a positive statement on recent economic performance of the economy, an economic outlook and encouraged to implement several outstanding reforms.
Korea, Uzbekistan bolster energy, infrastructure ties
(The Korea Herald, 28 May 2015) The leaders of South Korea and Uzbekistan agreed to upgrade their partnership to bolster cooperation in fields including energy, infrastructure development, information technology and health care, says the article. Two-sides are believed to agree on creation of joint ventures in oil, gas, petrochemicals and solar energy sectors, and to expand cooperation in establishing medical centers in Uzbekistan.
Saigas, an Endangered Antelope, Dying of Mystery Disease
(The New York Times, 29 May 2015) The saiga, a critically endangered Asian antelope species, has been decimated by a mysterious, fast-moving disease. In the past two weeks, more than third of all saigas have been killed, conservationists have found. Up to 120,000 saigas were lost in the last two-three weeks, according to a Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) senior scientist. The total saiga count is believed to be around 250.000 animals.
In Kyrgyzstan 18 percent of children under five are stunted due to malnutrition
(24.kg, 29 May 2015) About 18 percent of children under five are stunted due to malnutrition, said Tursun Mamyrbaeva, Deputy Director for Science of the National Center of Motherhood and Childhood, at a press conference. According to her, Kyrgyzstan has developed draft program for food security and nutrition for 2015-2017 years. The document is aimed at ensuring quality and nutrition of the population, especially of children, suggests the article.
Publications
(WB. 2015. Washington, D.C.: World Bank (WB))
Summary Highlights: Growth in the Kyrgyz Republic slowed significantly in 2014, reflecting the deteriorating external environment and supply-side constraints; real GDP growth fell to 3.6 percent, from 10.9 percent in the previous year. Macroeconomic policy sought to mitigate the impact of the som’s depreciation. The som has lost 22.4 percent of its value against the U.S. dollar since July 2014 despite heavy central bank intervention to smooth volatility in the foreign exchange market. In 2015 economic growth is projected to be anemic but to recover slowly thereafter. With remittances expected to decline further and external demand to remain weak, growth is projected to decline to 1.7 percent in 2015. Assuming that external demand for Kyrgyz goods and labor recovers, growth is expected to pick up to 4 percent in 2017, supported by fiscal consolidation.
Precipitation trends and variability from 1950 to 2000 in arid lands of Central Asia
(L. Xu, H. Zhou, L. Du, H. Yao and H. Wang. 2015. Journal of Arid Land. Vol. 7(4))
Abstract Highlights: Arid lands of Central Asia (ALCA), one of the largest arid regions at the middle latitudes in the world, is likely to be strongly influenced by climate warming. This study uses run theory, displacement, extreme deviation theory, precipitation concentration index (PCI), Mann-Kendall rank correlation and climatic trend coefficient methods to analyze the precipitation in wet and dry years, changes in precipitation over multiple-time scales, variability of precipitation and its rate of change based on the monthly precipitation data during 1950–2000 from 344 meteorological stations in the ALCA. Main results show that there were clear seasonal changes in precipitation (PCI=12–36) in the ALCA. Precipitation in spring and winter accounted for 37.7% and 24.4% of the annual precipitation, respectively. There were significant increasing trends (P=0.01) in precipitation in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, with rates of 2.6, 3.1 and 3.7 mm/10a, respectively.
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