Central Asia — twenty-five years after the breakup of the USSR

Abstract

Central Asia consists of five culturally and ethnically diverse countries that have followed different paths to political and economic transformation in the past 25 years since achieving independence from the Soviet Union. Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan have in relative terms made strides in market reforms, while Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan have not yet completed their transitions to market economies. Tajikistan represents an intermediate case. After experiencing more than a decade of growth based on hydrocarbon booms, Central Asian countries are faced with increasing challenges resulting from falling commodity prices, declining trade and lower migrant remittances. The main policy challenge is to move away from commodity-based growth strategies to market-oriented diversification and adoption of a broad spectrum of economic, institutional and political reforms. The major obstacles to political reform and structural diversification in the five Central Asian economies are internal and external geopolitical factors and deeply embedded institutional weaknesses within each country, particularly in areas where economic management interacts with authoritarian political systems and imperfect legal institutions.

The epidemiology of hepatitis C virus in Central Asia: Systematic review, meta-analyses, and meta-regression analyses

“…Geographically, for the purpose of this study, Central Asia (CA) encompasses five countries: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Since independence from the Soviet Union, these countries have been undergoing difficult political, social, and economic transition 6,7 . The public health and healthcare infrastructure has deteriorated, resulting in a decline in life expectancy, a rising burden of diseases, and re-emergence of infectious diseases 7,8 .…”

Evaluating the Sustainability of Public Debt in the Presence of Current and Fiscal Accounts Deficit in Developing Countries

“…When on average, the region face raising inflation, stagnant growth, declining exports etc. problems and affect the progress of the region (see Gros, D. 2014;Batsaikhan, U., & Dabrowski, M. 2017). Sufficient condition of current account is violated in the entire selected time periods.…”

The Relationship between Economic Growth, Energy Consumption and Carbon Dioxide Emissions: Evidence from Central Asia

“…In fact, obstacles occur in the region due to the presence of large natural resource rents (via the real appreciation of the exchange rate) to the development of internationally competitive manufacturing and service sectors. As a consequence, it leads to corruption and helps to consolidate authoritarian regimes (Batsaikhan & Dabrowski, 2017). Although the increase of per capita energy consumption fosters economic growth of countries in the region, Central Asian countries should reduce exploitation of fossil fuel energy in order to ensure sustainable development.…”

“…Tajikistan is known as an intermediate case. After more than a decade of growth relied on hydrocarbon booms, Central Asian countries are facing obstacles related to decreasing commodity prices, declining trade and lower migrant remittances (Batsaikhan and Dabrowski, 2017). The economic growth of Central Asian countries is predicted to reach 3.1 percent in 2017 and accelerated to 4.1 percent in 2018, but each country grows at different rates.…”