Results of the entire country's development in the first half of 2008 were summed up at the Economic Development and Trade Ministry today. Representatives of all ministries which are especially responsible for the situation made detailed reports. Today's session is part of preparations for a government session to be chaired by the president, scheduled for next Friday. Being afraid of criticism from the president, representatives of ministries asked for a change in the wording of a draft resolution and, I quote, tone it down. Our special correspondent, Natalya Krolevich, attended the session.

[Passage omitted: Economic Development Minister Akylbek Dzhaparov did not attend the session]

[Aziz Aliyev, the state secretary of the Economic Development Ministry] Our economy is currently developing in line with some rather pessimistic scenario. We are falling behind in some sectors, compared to last year's development. Last year the economic development rate was 8.8 per cent. Now, due to some external and internal factors, the economy is developing a little slower.

[Correspondent] Specialists on macroeconomic policy voiced reasons why the country's economy is developing in line with the pessimistic scenario, specifically global inflation, the mortgage financial crisis and the shock effect of rises in food and oil prices.

[Passage omitted: According to some forecasts, this year, global economic growth will be as slow as never before]

[Kambaraly Kasymov, the state secretary of the Agriculture Ministry] As all this is related to some external factors, it has turned out that we have unexpected negative results. For this reason, maybe we should tone down the wording of the draft resolution.

[Correspondent] The officials spent the rest of the session sharing opinions about reasons behind a gap between the government's forecasts and the real situation in the spheres. A representative of the National Bank summed up the government's work for the first half of this year, saying that one could easily find the reason - either poor work or incorrect economic forecasts.

[Video shows a session]

Originally published by Channel 5 TV, Bishkek, in Russian 1400 16 Jul 08.

(c) 2008 BBC Monitoring Central Asia. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.

Story Source: BBC Monitoring Central Asia