ABSTRACT
In the resource-based Central Asian countries Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan the budget revenue accruing from natural resource production is growing at a rapid pace. At the same time, increasing inequality in terms of regional economic development and of household incomes in oil and non-oil regions can be observed (Najman et al. in Chapter 7; Luecke and Trofi menko in Chapter 8). These developments indicate shortcomings of fi scal policy and of fi scal decentralization, which should correct regional imbalances instead of aggravating them.
