A number of institutions have recently upgraded their forecasts for the region's economic recovery. The World Bank raised its forecast for Kazakhstan's economic growth in 2021 to 3.2 percent from 2.5 percent, and forecast growth of 3.5 percent and 4.3 percent in the next two years. Meanwhile, Uzbekistan's economy is forecast to grow 4.8 per cent this year and Kyrgyzstan's 3.8 per cent. The rest of the region is also more optimistic, with Tajikistan and Turkmenistan expected to grow by 5.0 per cent and 4.6 per cent, respectively, this year.


Thanks to the policies and measures taken by governments to stabilize the economy and ensure people's livelihood, the economic situation in Central Asia is improving.

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Official Kazakh data show that government spending to support the economy and help people's livelihood totalled 6.3 trillion tenge ($15 billion) in 2020, equivalent to 9% of gross domestic product. Last may, kazakhstan set up to promote economic recovery national committee, start the "restore economic growth package", including the implementation of the "roadmap" employment, expand the scale of housing construction, adjustment of individual income tax levy system, to strengthen the credit support of industry and commerce, to attract foreign investment, in accordance with law, protect the rights and interests of enterprises. Under the framework of the "Roadmap for Employment", the Kazakh government has implemented about 6,700 infrastructure projects in 2020, creating jobs for more than 239,000 people. In 2021, the government plans to continue to help 1.3 million people find jobs under this framework in an effort to reduce the national unemployment rate to 4.9 percent.


Since the outbreak of the epidemic, Uzbekistan has invested in and supported key sectors such as energy, agriculture, construction, transportation, health and education. According to the Center for Economic Research and Reform, the country's auto and real estate markets were the first to recover, with car sales returning to pre-epidemic levels in August 2020. In February, the number of real estate contracts in the country rose 19.7 per cent year on year. In 2021, the income of overseas Chinese remittances increased rapidly and became an important driver of economic recovery.


Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan have also introduced a series of economic stimulus programs, including improving the business environment, reducing taxes and fees for enterprises and individuals, providing preferential loans to small and medium-sized enterprises, stabilizing prices in key commodity markets, and carrying out infrastructure construction.


Currently, a new round of epidemics has emerged in some parts of Central Asia. While continuing to prevent and control the epidemic, countries in the region have launched and accelerated their vaccination plans, and some countries have actively imported vaccines from China.

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Experts point out that when the Central Asian economy can fully recover to the pre-epidemic level, especially the recovery of services, trade and other sectors, will largely depend on the speed of vaccination. On the whole, economic recovery in Central Asia is still in the early stages of overcoming the impact of the epidemic, and most countries still face long-term structural problems such as declining consumption power and sluggish service sector.