Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic, April 11, 2014 — IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is helping Kyrgyz producers improve food safety practices to spur agribusiness growth and greater investment in the agricultural sector, a key engine of the country’s economy.

Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic, April 11, 2014—IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is providing a $4 million local currency-linked loan to Bai Tushum Bank to help expand financial products and services to the country’s small and medium enterprises (SMEs), creating jobs and boosting economic growth.

April 7, 2014, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan—A conferenceorganized by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the University of Central Asia (UCA) to be held from April 8-9 will explore how Central Asian countries can best meet the needs of present and future populations for adequate access to nutritious and safe foods and improve food and nutrition security.

“Afghanistan faces a complex and challenging policy agenda. Defining the policy-making process to improve its effectiveness and ensure that policy is informed by the best analysis will be critical to advancing this agenda,” said Dr Bohdan Krawcheko, Director General of the University of Central Asia (UCA).

BISHKEK, KYRGYZ REPUBLIC (3 April 2014) – The GDP of the Kyrgyz Republic is expected to grow by 6.5% in 2014 and 5.5% in 2015, according to a new Asian Development Bank report. This estimate assumes that gold production will remain stable and that investment in energy and transport, mainly from the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China, is forthcoming, according to the Asian Development Outlook 2014 (ADO 2014), ADB’s flagship annual economic publication.

HONG KONG, CHINA(1 April 2014) – Developing Asia will extend its steady economic growth in 2014 as higher demand from recovering advanced economies will be dampened somewhat by moderating growth in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), says a new Asian Development Bank (ADB) report.

HONG KONG, CHINA(1 April 2014) –Widening income gaps are undermining decades of successful poverty reduction in developing Asia, meaning governments should proactively use fiscal policy to close gaps and promote more inclusive growth, says a new Asian Development Bank (ADB) report.

On 18 February 2014, the University of Central Asia’s Mountain Societies Research Institute (UCA-MSRI) hosted a seminar on Research for Sustainable Land Management: Status, Challenges and Pathways for Improvement. The seminar launched MSRI’s second Background Paper Sustainable Land Management in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan: A Research Review by Candidate of biological science Jyldyz Shigaeva, Dr Bettina Wolfgramm and Dr Chad Dear.

Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic, April 2, 2014—IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, has developed a manual to help companies in the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan improve corporate governance and ultimately boost regional economic growth.

This paper reports on the results of a pilot exercise on fiscal safeguards conducted by the Fiscal Affairs Department (FAD) during FY2013. The exercise was launched following an independent review of the existing safeguards policy in 2010 in which many Directors encouraged staff to highlight fiscal safeguards risks in cases where a substantial portion of the resources provided by the Fund for balance of payments support is channeled to state treasuries for budget purposes. Pilot fiscal safeguards exercises were conducted for five countries: Antigua and Barbuda, Cyprus, Greece, Ireland, and Kyrgyz Republic.