This report is a follow-on to the economic performance assessments of Kazakhstan (November 2005), the Kyrgyz Republic (January 2006), and Tajikistan (March 2006) that Nathan Associates produced for the USAID/Europe and Eurasia Bureau and EGAT. Because socioeconomic conditions are changing rapidly as these countries transition from centrally planned to market-driven economies, this report relies on newly available data to provide a concise evaluation of indicators covering a broad range of issues relating to economic growth and poverty reduction in the region. The report draws on a variety of international data sources and uses international benchmarking against reference group averages, comparator countries, and statistical norms to identify major constraints, trends, and opportunities for strengthening growth and reducing poverty. This report uses two upper-middle-income countries, Bulgaria and Romania, as performance comparators. These formerly communist countries have made remarkable strides in the transition from communism. Performance is also compared to median values of former Soviet Union (FSU) countries, as well as those of the global set of upper-middle-income (UMI) countries (for Kazakhstan) and low-income (LI) countries (for the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan). Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, and Tajikistan share a common recent historical experience as former Soviet republics but have widely varying post-Soviet outcomes. Nonetheless, their shared experiences allow for meaningful and useful comparisons. The global medians of LI and UMI countries remain useful for comparing the focus countries with countries around the world with similar incomes. (Author abstract)
