ABSTRACT
With the disintegration of the former Soviet Union (FSU), the Kyrgyz Republic (also known as Kyrgyzstan) together with four other Central Asian land-locked countries gained independence in the early 1990s.1
Independence from the FSU brought more challenges than opportunities mainly because being a part of the FSU for about 70 years Kyrgyzstan (and many other Central Asian countries) did not have institutions and infrastructure to manage its economy independently. Despite this, Kyrgyzstan embraced an outward-oriented policy by lowering barriers to trade and investment, liberalizing prices and privatizing public enterprises. It even went forward and joined the WTO in December 1998. It was the first country in the region to be the WTO member despite the fact it was known as a non-market economy for about 70 years. While these achievements towards global integration are remarkably good for a newly independent country, there has not been any attempt to examine its implications for growth and equity, and identify development challenges in the post-reform period. The aim of this chapter is to fill this gap in the literature.
