BISHKEK (24 news agency) – Kyrgyzstan will postpone 400 projects due to lack of financing, Minister of Finance Olga Lavrova told journalists today.

Olga Lavrova

According to her, the realization of these projects have been suspended within the course of budget deficit reduction, which therefore will be about 3-4 billion soms.

“The choice of items to be halted will be done basing on the fact how much allocated funds have been left,” the Minister said. She explained the current budget deficit of 23-billion soms accounts for 7% of GDP while the objective is to reduce it to 6%.

Olga Lavrova added that the government considers alternatives for budget deficit reduction by using the funds of Kumtor gold mining deposit. “This relates to Kumtor’s incomes that is included in the budget of 2012, while in fact is to be reached in 2013,” the head of the Finance Ministry said. She noted that if they decide to use this income, the deficit will be reduced to 2.3 billion soms.

Last July, the Minister of Economy, Temir Sariyev, had declared that the economy of Kyrgyzstan Shrank by 5.8% in the first half of 2012.