A well-balanced fiscal policy lays the ground for broad-based economic growth. In view of strengthening the capacities of the Kyrgyz authorities in formulating and implementing  effective macroeconomic policies, in capturing and assessing fiscal risks and in promoting fiscal transparency, this five-day training, tailored to the needs of the Kyrgyz Republic, was organized for representatives of Government agencies directly involved in the compilation of fiscal statistics.

The first workshop on this topic, in which six Kyrgyz officials participated, took place in November 2016 in Baku. Following this event, the IMF undertook a series of in-depth consultations with the Kyrgyz authorities in May this year, in order to further enhance the fiscal data compilation and to define the next steps to be taken to continue improving fiscal transparency.

Mrs. Ivana Jablonská, the project manager from the Statistics Department of the IMF congratulated the Kyrgyz authorities on the significant progress they have made in recent years in improving the coverage, timeliness and consistency of fiscal statistics. She highly appreciated the commitment of the Kyrgyz compilers and stressed the importance of inter-agency co-operation in the compilation of various data subsets of macroeconomic statistics.

The officials of the Ministry of Finance, National Statistical Committee, National Bank and the Social Fund demonstrated keen interest in learning the conceptual framework of the international standards and best compilation practices. The appropriate combination of lectures and case studies helped them to apply the newly acquired theoretical knowledge on practical exercises adapted to the Kyrgyz reality. The work on case studies provided a good opportunity to understand the practical application of fiscal statistics for the national policy making and cross-country comparisons.

This was the result of cooperation with the project ”Voice of citizens and accountability of local self-governments” financed by the Government of Switzerland through the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and implemented by Development Policy Institute.

The project aims at more transparent and effective management of local finances by local self-governments through increased accountability and citizens’ participation in decision-making processes.

Following a decision-making process actively involving citizens and ensuring transparent management of local finances, the municipalities of Onbir-Jylga Ayil Aimak in Chui rayon and Boroldoi Ayil Aimak in Kemin rayon, acquired needed equipment (furniture for children, toys, books, and kitchen equipment) for two kindergartens. Both projects were selected by citizens and successfully passed a competitive selection process in the frame of the small grant program of the project.

The project provided 1 million soms to both municipalities which added their own resources amounted to 100’000 soms in Boroldoi and 150’000 soms in Onbir-Jylga.

15 small projects were supported within the small grant program of the “Voice of citizens and accountability of local self-governments” project in 2017 for a total of almost 15 million soms. The small projects financed at municipal levels are related to improved drinking water supply, street lighting, public transportation, recreation services and education.