Banking in the Kyrgyz Republic

This chapter describes the challenges facing the Kyrgyz banking system. It then briefly explains why financial access and use of formal financial instruments are important for economic development. It suggests ways to increase financial access in the Kyrgyz Republic. Several instruments are proposed to improve financial literacy to provide affordable, targeted financial products by lowering credit risk, alleviating collateral constraints and pooling demand to increase trust in financial institutions and to improve access to physical banking infrastructure. Some of these instruments already exist in the country and could be scaled up. Others have worked in countries from the region and beyond, and could be adopted.