Statistics for the first two months of 2009 show that industrial production in Kyrgyzstan is crashing.

According to data released by the National Statistics Committee on March 10, industrial output during the January-February period contracted by 25 percent compared to the same period in 2008. Gross domestic product during the two-month period declined at an estimated rate of 1.1 percent.

The official inflation rate stood at 0.8 percent for the first two months of the year. The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) statistics committee last month forecasted that consumer prices would increase by at least 13 percent in 2009.