Central Asia

After a freezing winter marked by severe energy shortages, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan fear spring could bring food shortages as well.

The governments of Central Asia


While the local populations were struggling to absorb this hammer blow, the two states faced a new shock when their neighbours sharply raised the price of natural gas. (See Uzbek Gas Hike Leaves Neighbours In The Cold, RCA No. 526, 11-Jan-08.)

Tajikistan has been hit hardest by the simultaneous rise in food and energy costs. Now plunged into crisis, it has appealed to the international community for aid.

Neighbouring Kyrgyzstan is only slightly better off, and is also increasingly concerned about whether it will have enough food to feed its population this spring. (See Cold Snap Wreaks Havoc on Central Asian Power, RCA No. 529, 31-Jan-08.)

In contrast to Kazakstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, all of which are blessed with reserves of oil or gas, the two mountainous Central Asian states have only hydroelectric power as an energy resource. But neither has been able to exploit anything like the full capacity of its electricity industry, and they remain dependent on gas imports from Uzbekistan, with Tajikistan also reliant on electricity from the same country over the winter months.

IWPR