Economy - overview Kyrgyzstan is a small, poor, mountainous country with a predominantly agricultural economy. Cotton, wool, and meat are the main agricultural products and exports. Industrial exports include gold, mercury, uranium, and electricity. Kyrgyzstan has been one of the most progressive countries of the former Soviet Union in carrying out market reforms. With fits and starts, inflation has been lowered to an estimated 7% in 2001. Much of the government's stock in enterprises has been sold. Drops in production had been severe since the breakup of the Soviet Union in December 1991, but by mid-1995 production began to recover and exports began to increase. Growth was held down to 2.1% in 1998 largely because of the spillover from Russia's economic difficulties, but moved ahead to 3.6% in 1999, 5% in 2000, and 5% again in 2001. Despite these gains, poverty indicators are no better in 2001 than in 1996. On the positive side, the government and the international financial institutions have embarked on a comprehensive medium-term poverty reduction and economic growth strategy. In November 2001, with financing assurance from the Paris Club, the IMF Board approved a three-year, $93 million Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility.

GDP purchasing power parity - $13.5 billion (2001 est.)

GDP - real growth rate 5% (2001 est.)

GDP - per capita purchasing power parity - $2,800 (2001 est.)

GDP - composition by sector
agriculture: 38%
industry: 27%
services: 35% (2000 est.)

Population below poverty line 55% (2001 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share
lowest 10%: 2.7%
highest 10%: 31.7% (1997)

Distribution of family income - Gini index 40.5 (1997)

Inflation rate (consumer prices) 7% (2001 est.)

Labor force 2.7 million (2000)

Labor force - by occupation agriculture 55%, industry 15%, services 30% (2000 est.)

Unemployment rate 7.2% (1999 est.)

Budget
revenues: $207.4 million
expenditures: $238.7 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (1999 est.)

Industries small machinery, textiles, food processing, cement, shoes, sawn logs, refrigerators, furniture, electric motors, gold, rare earth metals

Industrial production growth rate 6% (2000 est.)

Electricity - production 14.677 billion kWh (2000)

Electricity - production by source
fossil fuel: 7.62%
hydro: 92.38%
other: 0% (2000)
nuclear: 0%

Electricity - consumption 9.818 billion kWh (2000)

Electricity - exports 4.153 billion kWh (2000)

Electricity - imports 321 million kWh (2000)

Agriculture - products tobacco, cotton, potatoes, vegetables, grapes, fruits and berries; sheep, goats, cattle, wool

Exports $475 million (f.o.b., 2001 est.)

Exports - commodities cotton, wool, meat, tobacco; gold, mercury, uranium, hydropower; machinery; shoes

Exports - partners Germany 28.7%, Uzbekistan 17.7%, Russia 12.9%, China 8.7%, Kazakhstan 6.6% (2000)

Imports $420 million (f.o.b., 2001 est.)

Imports - commodities oil and gas, machinery and equipment, foodstuffs

Imports - partners Russia 23.9%, Uzbekistan 13.5%, Kazakhstan 10.3%, US 9.7%, Turkey 4.8% (2000)

Debt - external $1.6 billion (2001 est.)

Economic aid - recipient $50 million from the US (2001)

Currency Kyrgyzstani som (KGS)

Currency code KGS

Exchange rates soms per US dollar - 47.972 (January 2002), 48.378 (2001), 47.704 (2000), 39.008 (1999), 20.838 (1998), 17.362 (1997)

Fiscal year calendar year

NOTE: The information regarding Kyrgyzstan on this page is re-published from the 2002 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Kyrgyzstan Economy 2002 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Kyrgyzstan Economy 2002 should be addressed to the CIA.