OREANDA-NEWS. The Governor of the National Bank appealed to the Jogorku Kenesh of the Kyrgyz Republic with a personal statement on early dismissal. In comments of this issue Ms. Zina Asankojoeva said: “I am leaving the post of the Governor of the National Bank due to existing family reasons. For the past three years jointly with a large professional team of the National Bank we have achieved a great deal: the inflation rate did not exceed the stated targets, indicators of monetization of the economy have increased, the assets of commercial banks have increased almost twice, the deposits have increased by more than half, the volume of credits of the banks and non-banking institutions has reached more than 80 billion soms, having increased twice, interest rates are falling, approach to monetary policy is reforming, research activities are enabled, measures on improving oversight were realized.

I appreciate the contribution of each employee of the bank and I hope that they will continue the course of reforms started. I believe that the financial system of Kyrgyzstan has a good future. A long way was passed, it is important do not stop at what has been accomplished. Many thanks to everybody for your cooperation.” Ms. Zina Asankojoeva worked in the National Bank at first as a Deputy Governor and then as a Head of the National Bank for more than three years. During her leadership there were initiated radical reforms in the National Bank. For the first time the monetary policy base was changed (from targeting of monetary aggregates - to targeting of interest rates), new instruments were introduced (credit of refinancing, “overnight” deposits, etc.), a number of bills relating to banking, microfinance and payment systems were developed. New legislation in the field of microfinance institutions has improved supervision and regulation of microfinance institutions, allowed to start work on lowering of interest rates, extending at the same time the spectrum of operations of microfinance institutions and largely protecting the rights of consumers of financial services. For example, restrictions on the size of the fines on the borrowers for not fulfilling their contract terms were imposed, the requirements for full disclosure of the cost of credit were established and others. The National Bank initiated the development of a National program on improving the financial literacy of population, research works on current issues of economic and financial systems began to carry out in the National Bank and Center for economic Researches was established. The National Bank started to engage independent experts to discuss the economic situation in the country and use their advices in defining the future direction of monetary policy. The International high-level conference dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the national currency was held, where the experience of countries of the Central Asia and the Caucasus on overcoming the difficulties of the transition period and the challenges facing these countries were discussed. The conference was attended by the representatives of 17 countries and 11 international organizations. The results of this conference were highly appreciated by the international community. There was reached an agreement on the second and third stages of reforms, which must be hold at the moment. On the initiative of Ms. Zina Asankojoeva the National Bank resumed buying of gold in the domestic market and increased the proportion of gold in international reserves to 8.6 percent. Currently, the amount of gold is more than 3.5 tons, whereas prior to 2011 the amount of gold on the balance sheet of the National Bank has remained unchanged since 1997 and was about 2.58 tons. Gold and foreign exchange reserves exceeded 2 billion in terms of dollar. In order to diversify risks the Chinese yuan, Singapore dollar, Norwegian and Swedish krona were included in the bank's assets.

Total currency portfolio of international reserves of Kyrgyzstan currently includes 12 currencies. The official exchange rates of the US dollar, Euro, Russian ruble and the Kazakh tenge against the Kyrgyz som began to set daily. This facilitates rapid and real reflection of the situation on the currency market, improvement of payment and settlement relations of businesses in foreign currency. In order to ensure the security and stability of the payment system a draft Law of the Kyrgyz Republic “On the payment system of the Kyrgyz Republic” was developed, which is adopted by the Jogorku Kenesh in three readings. A draft Banking Code of the Kyrgyz Republic - codified normative legal act, was prepared and submitted to the Jogorku Kenesh of the Kyrgyz Republic. Adoption of the Banking Code will allow streamlining the structure of the banking legislation, to clarify the legal status of members of banking relationships, systematize and harmonize all banking laws and to eliminate inconsistencies, conflicts and contradictions.