About 600 new large and small enterprises opened in regions within two years, President

Bishkek, Dec.25, 2019. /Kabar/. Within two years, preferential loans worth about KGS 38 billion were sent to the regions, and about 600 new large and small enterprises were opened, President of the Kyrgyz Republic Sooronbay Jeenbekov said at the press conference.

Jeenbekov said the state has created basic conditions for the development of regions.

“Recently we have been paying particular attention to the development of regions, you know well the reasons for this decision. There is a need to reduce the migration flow by improving the living standards of the regions' residents, creating new jobs and providing employment.

Unfortunately, the previous economic policy was not focused on regional development. For example, the budget, tax, monetary and credit policies did not take into account the imbalance in regional development. This led to increased internal migration. There was an increase in the number of people who moved from remote places, including from border areas. That's why over the past two years we have dramatically increased the amount of funding for regional projects," he said.

The Kyrgyz leader noted credit policy of state banks and Kyrgyz-Russian Development Fund was aimed at development of regions. Within two years, preferential credits for the amount of about KGS 38 billion (or more than USD 540 million) have been directed to the regions. Significant tax benefits have been provided for agricultural cooperatives and trade and logistics centers. Value added tax for processing industry enterprises was reduced by 80%.

“New production enterprises in the regions were exempt from 4 types of taxes for five years: income tax, sales tax, land tax and property tax. In order to strengthen the local budget, the rates of income tax splitting into local budgets were increased from 50% to 70%. By 2020, 80% of this tax will remain in the local budget. As a result of the measures taken in the regions, about 600 new large and small businesses were opened in two years," Jeenbekov said.

The Kyrgyz President’s press conference is taking place at the Ala-Archa state residence in Bishkek.

A total of 188 journalists have been accredited for the event.

Of these, 160 journalists are from 77 national media and 28 journalists - from 15 foreign media, accredited by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic.

Note that this is the second press conference of Sooronbay Jeenbekov as the President.