Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
(Anderson and Pomfret, 2003). Between 1991 and 1995, output fell by
50%, triggering a loss of tax revenues amounting up to 7.5% of the GDP
(The World Bank, 2001). The real GDP decline for the same period was
about 45% (Anderson and Pomfret, 2003). Agricultural production fell
by around one-third and industrial production by two-thirds (Anderson,
1999). In early 1990s, levels of inflation were very high: 200% in 1991,
900% in 1992 (Anderson, 1999) and 1,300% in 1993 (Anderson, 1999).
Although between 1995 and 1997 there was about 15% economic growth
rate, that growth was mostly due to the Kumtor goldmine project. Fur-
thermore, the 1998 economic crisis in Russia as well as poor agricultural
performance in that year once again slowed down the economic growth
(Anderson and Pomfret, 2003).
These economic problems resulted in a sharp decline in the living stan-
dards of a majority of the people in Kyrgyzstan most of whom had already
been lacking modern conveniences, living in rural areas and being em-
ployed in agriculture (McMann, 2006). Due to the fact that health care,
education, and social welfare networks organized by the Soviet state were
also no longer provided, increasing numbers of people started to live be-
low the poverty line (Kort, 2004). In addition, economic inequality also in-
creased (Anderson and Pomfret, 2003). A small class of new rich “whose
lifestyle contrast[ed] sharply with that of substantial sections of the popu-
lation” emerged in major cities (Anderson, 1999). This “sharp socioeco-
nomic stratification” (Kuehnast and Dudwick, 2004) shrank the informal
social networks which had always functioned as the “safety nets” for the
people, making the poor even more desperate and dependent on the non-
poor.
16
Shortly after independence, poverty alleviation would become one
of the highest priorities of the Kyrgyz government (Kasybekov, 1999).
17
Furthermore, it must also be kept in mind that nepotism and clientalism
are very much ubiquitous in Kyrgyzstan, where personal contacts play a
major role in social, economic, and political matters (Demirel and Seçkin,
2009). This resulted in increased levels of corruption in the post-Soviet
era (Pomfret, 2006). During the first decade of independence, there were
many scandals in which politically powerful people bought state enter-
prises “at absurdly low prices” such as a silk factory in Osh that was sold
16
For a detailed analysis of how the poor is negatively affected see Kuehnast and Dudwick (2004).
17
For a detailed analysis of poverty in Kyrgyzstan, see Ackland and Falkingham (1997).
Search WWH ::
Custom Search