Economy (Kyrgyzstan)
====================


     Overview:
         Kyrgyzstan's small economy (less than 1% of the total for the former Soviet
         Union) is oriented toward agriculture, producing mainly livestock such as
         goats and sheep, as well as cotton, grain, and tobacco. Industry,
         concentrated around Bishkek, produces small quantities of electric motors,
         livestock feeding equipment, washing machines, furniture, cement, paper, and
         bricks. Mineral extraction is small, the most important minerals being rare
         earth metals and gold. Kyrgyzstan is a net importer of most types of food
         and fuel but is a net exporter of electricity. By early 1991, the Kirghiz
         leadership had accelerated reform, primarily by privatizing business and
         granting life-long tenure to farmers. In 1991 overall industrial and
         livestock output declined substantially.
     GDP:
         purchasing power equivalent - $NA billion, per capita $NA; real growth rate
         -5% (1991)
     Inflation rate (consumer prices):
         88% (1991)
     Unemployment rate:
         NA%
     Budget:
         revenues $NA million; expenditures $NA million
     Exports:
         $115 million (1990)
       commodities:
         wool, chemicals, cotton, ferrous and nonferrous metals, shoes, machinery,
         tobacco
       partners:
         Russia 70%, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and others
     Imports:
         $1.5 million (c.i.f., 1990)
       commodities:
         lumber, industrial products, ferrous metals, fuel, machinery, textiles,
         footwear
     External debt:
         $650 million (1991)
     Industrial production:
         growth rate 0.1% (1991)
     Electricity:
         NA kW capacity; 13,900 million kWh produced, 3,232 kWh per capita (1991)
     Industries:
         small machinery, textiles, food-processing industries, cement, shoes, sawn
         logs, steel, refrigerators, furniture, electric motors, gold, and rare earth
         metals
     Agriculture:
         wool, tobacco, cotton, livestock (sheep and goats) and cattle, vegetables,
         meat, grapes, fruits and berries, eggs, milk, potatoes
     Illicit drugs:
         poppy cultivation legal
     Economic aid:
         US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-87), $NA billion; Western (non-US)
         countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-86), $NA million;
         Communist countries (1971-86), $NA million
     Currency:
         as of May 1992, retaining ruble as currency
     Fiscal year:
         calendar year