Tuesday, May 15, 2012 - Foreign and domestic investors will put their money into Kyrgyzstan’s economy if the country stabilizes its political environment, a senior World Bank official said on Tuesday.
"Political stability is necessary for the development of the private sector. Micro- and macro-stability in the country are important indicators for private sector development," said World Bank vice president Philippe Le Houerou, the KyrTAG news agency reported.
The private sector wants to see good governance, a working judicial system, and good infrastructure, Le Houerou told participants at a roundtable discussion in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek.
The World Bank official also stressed the urgent need to diversify the economy as it is over-dependent on gold miners and remittances from its migrant laborers.
“This concentration is a source of weakness and vulnerability,” he said, adding that a serious problem to one of those sectors would dramatically reduce the country’s economic growth.
“Diversification of the economy should be the absolute priority,” the Knews.kg site quoted Le Houerou as saying.
Kyrgyz Prime Minister Djoomart Otorbaev told the participants his government is working on a strategy to enlarge the private sector, with assistance from the global lender.
"I invite our development partners to join the government's plan and actively participate in this process," KyrTAG quoted Otorbaev as saying.
The roundtable brought together Kyrgyz government officials and heads of international donor organizations under the theme, “Development of the private sector in Kyrgyzstan: Opportunities for Reform.”