Kirguizistan: Invertir

FDI in Figures

According to UNCTAD's World Investment Report 2022, FDI flows to Kyrgyzstan reached USD 248 million in 2021, up by the level recorded one year earlier when inflows were negative by USD 402 million. In the same year, the stock of FDI reached USD 4.2 billion, or around 49.6% of the country’s GDP. According to data from the National Statistical Committee, FDIs are mostly directed towards the mining industry, followed by manufacturing and financial intermediation and insurance. The main investing countries are Russia, Kazakhstan, China, Malta (where many Russian investors reside), and the Netherlands. According to preliminary figures from the National Statistics Committee, the inflow of foreign direct investment in 2022 compared to 2021 increased by 4% and amounted to USD 1.046 billion. The inflow exceeded the outflow rate by USD 290.8 million.

Facilitating the entry of FDI flows into the country has been a key priority of the Kyrgyz government in recent years. However, improvements have been slow, and the business legal and regulatory framework is still considered inadequate, the same as for infrastructure. Environmental disputes over mining activities have been multiplying in recent years. In May 2021, the Kyrgyz government took control of the Kumtor gold mine owned by Centerra Gold after the passage of a law allowing it to impose external management for up to three months on mining companies operating under a concession agreement if it was found to have violated environmental regulations or endangered the environment. In October, the government announced that the state-owned company Kyrgyzgeologiya would now be responsible for all precious metals mining in the country, and in April 2022, the Kyrgyz government and Centerra reached a conditional agreement by which the Kyrgyz government will take full control of the mine and give up its 26% stake in Centerra. Furthermore, the country’s judicial system is not fully independent and susceptible to external political influence, and investors denounced a lack of transparency in the public procurement process (in the last five years, foreign investors have filed twenty different lawsuits against the Kyrgyz government). At the moment, there are five Free Economic Zones (FEZs) in the Kyrgyz Republic: Bishkek, Naryn, Karakol (Issyk-Kul province), Leylek (Batken province) and Maimak (Talas province). By law, the country guarantees equal treatment to investors and places no limit on foreign ownership or control. Moreover, the Kyrgyz Republic does not have any FDI screening processes in place, and the tax burden on the repatriation of profits by foreign investors has been reduced to conform to the tax rate for domestic investors. The Heritage Foundation classifies Kyrgyzstan as 115th out of 176 countries in its 2023 Index of Economic Freedom ranking; while the country ranks 140th out of 180 in the 2022 Corruption Perception Index.

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Latest Update: November 2023