Resource information
The present report was prepared upon the
request of the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic to inform
policy decisions on reforming the existing safety net. The
report aims at providing analytical underpinning of the
country's ongoing safety net reform, along with venue
for policy discussions with the Government and stakeholders
on the immediate as well as on the longer-term challenges
related to designing and implementing of a modern national
safety net. The report's focus is on the analysis of
the poverty reduction impact, targeting accuracy and
coverage of the existing non-contributory social benefits,
the poverty-targeted Unified Monthly Benefit (UMB) in
particular, with the objectives of recognizing the strengths
on which the reform can capitalize, identifying
opportunities for improvement and fostering consensus
building among Kyrgyz policymakers regarding the options for
reforming the UMB and the broader vision of public policy in
social assistance and the feasible instruments for its
implementation. The focus of the report on the UMB is also
determined by the need of identifying safety net instruments
for mitigating the adverse effects of the economic shocks
which are already affecting ECA countries, including the
Kyrgyz Republic, on the poor and vulnerable. The safety net
in the Kyrgyz Republic faces multiple objectives: (a) to
redistribute income to the poorest and most vulnerable, with
an immediate impact on poverty and inequality; (b) to help
households manage risks by maintaining consumption and
assets in the outburst of shocks, such as the food, fuel,
financial and economic crises; and (c) to protect the
livelihoods of the negatively affected by structural reforms
aimed at economic growth and efficiency gains.
