BISHKEK (TCA) — In the course of 2015 the European Union disbursed the highest amount it has ever disbursed to the Kyrgyz Republic. The total of €34.6 million paid from the EU’s general budget included €24.6 million in development assistance and a €10 million grant payment for Macro-Financial Assistance, the Delegation of the European Union to the Kyrgyz Republic said.
This donation from the EU does not include disbursements of grants or loans from individual EU Members States or loans from the EU or European financial institutions such as the KfW (the German development bank) or the European Investment Bank.
While some €5.7 million of the development assistance consisted of a sector budget support payment for education, the remaining €18.9 million was disbursed to different projects and programmes. This included payments to projects on public water supply in Tokmok, enhancement of the Rule of Law, border management and the fight against the drug phenomenon in Central Asia and financing of improvements in energy efficiency (KyrSEFF) and the construction of the Kok-Tala – Pulgon road in Batken.
The 5.7 million euro budget support grant for education, transferred on December 29, 2015, was part of a 20 million euro budget support programme to help the Kyrgyz Government implement its Education Development Strategy 2020 and the Action Plan 2012-2014. The aim was to reform the general and vocational education systems, improving educational quality and pedagogic standards, and strengthening public financial management.
The European Union is currently discussing with the Kyrgyz Government the possibility of a new 36 million euro sector budget support programme to support the next phase of the Government’s reforms after the current programme expires this year. These reforms are to be defined in the Education Development Strategy Action Plan 2016-2017.
