Can you briefly
tell us what are your main goals and objectives
as a newly appointed minister?
First of all I want to say that I am very
glad to meet you and to give you an interview.
I believe that through your magazine many
people all over the world will learn about
Kyrgyzstan. You know that Kyrgyzstan is
a young country that became independent
not so long ago. But from my point of view
for this short period our country has reached
certain very good results.
I want to answer to your question about
tasks and goals as the Minister of Finance
of this country. The main goal of course
is to improve the living standards of our
population and the level of economical development.
The Minister of Finance has a range of different
activities and duties. First of all it is
in charge of the budget, which was approved,
in previous year. As a chief financial body
we are acting as a catalyst for different
structural and economical reforms in the
country. All of the reforms are passing
through the budget. Because the budget is
like the mirror of all the reforms conducted.
Concerning the economical and financial
growth of our country during all the years
of independence we were developing in a
normal way. We had a certain percentage
of growth. But this year we have had a decrease
of the growth and there were objective reasons
for that. It was related with an accident
at "Kumtor Operating Company".
"Kumtor" comprises a big share
of the profitable enterprises of our state.
It constitutes 20-22 % of income in the
structure of the Gross Domestic Product.
I would say that there is a certain problem
in the structure of our GDP because just
one accident in some enterprise can influence
so much on the development of our economy.
We depend on it.
How is the government going to increase
the efficiency of revenue collection that
is so needed for the budget?
It is an actual topic as we have many problems
in the area. We have accepted the new concept
of tax policy improvement. The main goal
is not to increase the tariffs and rates
of all the taxes. We are planning to decrease
these taxes level, but at the same time
we will increase thus the number of taxpayers.
I will tell you concretely what we have
done. We have decreased the tax for profits
from 30 % to 20 %. We have also decreased
the income tax by creating 2 percentage
rates of 10% and 20 %. Before it was 5 to
30 % depending on the sum. We also have
the protective system of taxation. I personally
do not consider it to be a market method.
But because we are in a very difficult situation
nowadays we have used this taxation system
intentionally. Nowadays we are planning
to introduce a new tax for the real estate.
These are measures that can influence the
income part. We also had certain privileges
for the agriculture sector like fixed rate
for the VAT.
|
Before the rate
was rather high and comprised 15 %. Now it
has been decreased as a kind of subsidy from
the government in the sector. Tactically we
are planning to create equal conditions for
all the taxpayers. In our organizational structure
we have united all the fiscal bodies into
one structure. This is done in order to streamline
the administration of the tax system and create
a united database for the taxpayers. Then
a taxpayer will work only with one fiscal
body that will control taxpayers. Now we are
in the very beginning because only a month
has passed since all this was made. There
is a certain plan for the improvement of the
body. If you are interested in it here is
this plan on paper.
What is the Ministry of Finance doing
to create a more favorable investment climate
and to make Kyrgyzstan a more appealing
destination for investments?
It is the main task not actually only for
the Ministry of Finance, but for the whole
country. It is under the personal control
of our President. We have conducted 2 summits
with our big investors. We have a definite
plan of our activities in the form of matrix
where we have determined all the measures
to overcome all the barriers, which prevent
us to attract investors. First of all we
have started with the revision of all the
legislative documents that prevent us to
work. Our second task is to simplify the
regulatory base by the government bodies
and the introduction of minimal rate of
commissions, which are necessary for the
entrepreneur to start a business here. As
a fiscal body, which regulates fiscal policy,
we have to think over and work out certain
procedures and regulations for the investors
to come here and invest their money.
I am personally on the side of attracting
the investors with the help of certain advantages
provided for the investors. But now we implement
a joint program with the International Monetary
Fund. We have signed a memorandum and it
stipulates us not to decrease the rates
of the taxes too much and to provide too
favorable advantages. Of course, on some
points of the memorandum we are trying to
come to an agreement with the experts of
the International Monetary Fund. We have
actually managed to come to a certain decision.
Note: WINNE cannot be held responsible
for the content of unedited transcriptions
|
V.I.P. INTERVIEWS
