Kyrgyzstan annually mines 18 tons of gold and 5 tons of silver.
The statement was made by Economic Regulation Minister Uchkunbek Tashbaev at a faction meeting during the discussion of the Kyrgyz law "On Amendments to the Law on Precious Metals and Precious Stones," KyrTAG reports on Wednesday.
"Kyrgyzstan annually mines 18 tons of gold and 5 tons of silver, but only 3 percent of this volume is processed in the country. The rest of the gold is sent abroad. The budget receives only a tax on its implementation," Tashbaev said.
According to Tashbaev, changes and additions are proposed to the law "On Precious Metals and Precious Stones." in order to reduce excessive government regulation in the jewelry industry.
"The changes include the creation of independent laboratories for testing and stamping and transfer of the functions of testing and stamping of jewelry from to legal entities with the assumption of appropriate responsibility, which allows accredited laboratories the opportunity to provide services for testing and stamping of jewelry as an alternative. Representation of alternative offers jewelers and consumers possibility to choose when probing and branding the jewelry," Tashbaev said.