AKIPRESS.COM - At independence, the five Central Asian countries were open economies, exporting a small number of primary products. This characteristic has changed little in the two subsequent decades, finds the paper titled “Central Asia Trade and Human Development” released by UNDP on April 8.

Energy, cotton, metals and minerals account for about 90% of merchandise exports from Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. While Uzbekistan and the Kyrgyz Republic show more diversified export baskets, metals and minerals (gold), energy (gas, coal), and primary agricultural products (cotton) account for about two thirds of merchandise exports from these countries. Light industrial and machinery production account for about one quarter of these countries exports.

Higher exports of these primary products have boosted growth in GDP, output, and incomes in Central Asia – especially during the global commodity price boom that took hold in the middle of the last decade, and peaked around 2011. However, with the exception of Kazakhstan, growth in merchandise exports from the Central Asian countries during the past decade has generally been below the rates reported by comparable developing and transition economies.