English
Русский 
Кыргызча 
25/02/16 13:00, Bishkek – 24.kg news agency, by Tatyana KUDRYAVTSEVA
"The government has to make innovative decisions to overcome the crisis," Prime Minister Temir Sariev said at a meeting of the Council for Business Development and Investments.
According to him, last year it has managed to achieve good results in the economy. This year will be more difficult. The government predicts negative GDP growth in the first quarter of 2016. But positive dynamics is expected in the second quarter of the year. As a result, the Cabinet expects that economic growth will reach 5.2 percent.
"Today, there is a lot of speculation about Kyrgyzstan's accession to EEU. Many people confuse the effects of the economic crisis in Russia and Kazakhstan with the effect of accession of Kyrgyzstan to EEU. These things should be separated. All newly created associations suffer difficulties initially. It is not easy now to predict how the situation would develop if we have not joined the union. I daresay that it would be more difficult to overcome the crisis. We would have been in isolation and deadlock. In addition, amid devaluation of the currency in the Russian Federation and the Republic of Kazakhstan and significant customs duties, export opportunities to EEU countries would be reduced to zero. We can also add difficulties for migrants, who would have lost their external and quite comfortable working environment in Russia. So the answer to the question about the usefulness of entry into the union is simple and it is on the surface. It was the right strategic decision," Temir Sariev said.
"Another thing is that we have not made all the decisions for the full integration into the EEU. Today, we must continue work on creation of jobs, attraction of investment, reduction of barriers for business. In view of the new challenges for the economy in 2016, the Agency on Attraction of Investments, the Russian-Kyrgyz Development Fund, the State Mortgage Company will operate at full capacity. I hope that all their activities, aimed at increasing business activity, will bear fruit in the nearest future. The government has developed and adopted an anti-crisis program for 2016. But taking into account new risks, it decided to discuss it with the business one more time. We are ready to listen to business and solve all their problems," he added.
