CROWD ELEVATOR

Globalization has always been a topic of hot debates. As from Kyrgyzstan’s perspective, I think that globalization here may have had a twofold effect. While the membership in World Trade Organization (WTO) has had some benefits, the dilemma for today is about the costs and benefits for Kyrgyzstan after its possible accession to the Customs Union (CU), consisting of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russian Federation. It is the most recent trade policy change in the region of Central Asia. Whether joining the CU will be a further step for Kyrgyzstan to better integrate into the global economy or will derive from globalization creating protectionist regional economic block is a matter of time. Kyrgyzstan is one of the five Central Asian post-Soviet countries. Since the collapse of the USSR and after gaining its independence, Kyrgyzstan actively started to integrate into the global economy by signing the bilateral agreements with countries and becoming a member of several preferential trade

With the recent abrupt devaluation of Kazakh tenge by 20 % in a few days and devaluation of Kyrgyz som I've become curious about the situation with the other currencies in emerging markets. It looks like Kazakhstan and Turkey are importing gold to keep its currencies from devaluation. It turns out some of the emerging market currencies are sliding against the dollar as well. That is, Argentinian peso devalued by 15%; Turkish lira immersed; currencies of South Africa, Brazil, Russia and many others have come under the pressure. On my personal example working with some different currencies I have noticed the change. Last year I've recorded that $1 equals to 50 afs (afghani) and this year $1 costs 56 afs. Looks like not only Kyrgyz currency and the currency of our neighbor Kazkhstan are sliding down. Weakening of Kyrgyz som is also evident as it is mainly tied to the Russian ruble, comments the National Bank of Kyrgyz Republic. While the situation with our domestic currency