Specifics of Economic Transformation of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in Post-Soviet Period

Abstract

The article analyzes the specifics of economic development and economic transformation of the Central Asian mountain republics (Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan) in the post-Soviet period. The author has revealed that, on the one hand, the mountain republics during the period of market reforms developed in the general trend of other post-Soviet and post-socialist states in general, on the other hand, the socio-economic achievements of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan were among the least successful among countries transitioning from a planned administrative-command economy to a market economy. In particular, it was found that many economic sectors in the mountain republics have remained depressed over the thirty-year period, which have grown rapidly in other post-Soviet states: such as the mining industry (coal mining, uranium mining, oil and gas extraction) and many sub-sectors of agriculture. The republics currently have an unbalanced, more primitive employment structure, not only in comparison to post-industrial countries, but also to other post-Soviet states (in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan a much higher share of the total economically active population is occupied by people working in agriculture). Among the more high-priority sectors of the economies under consideration were gold mining (primarily due to the development of one of the largest gold deposits, Kumtor, in Kyrgyzstan) and wholesale trade (Kyrgyzstan in the post-Soviet period became one of the largest reexporters of goods from China to the Eurasian Economic Union). Hydropower has been identified as one of the most promising sectors for the development of the mountain republics’ economies (thanks to the huge hydropower resources of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan).