Bishkek, 27 November 1996 (RFE/RL) - Kyrgyzstan's President Askar Akayev today addressed a joint session of Parliament to announce a plan to reduce the number of government ministries by a third.
Akayev also announced the consolidation of several ministries, including the Finance and Economics Ministries into one Finance Ministry. Akayev also said that staffs of government bodies will be reduced soon.
The presidential staff is to be reduced by 30 percent, government and ministries' staffs by 20 percent, Parliamentary staffs by 30 percent and local government staffs by at least ten percent. He said the total staff reduction will be by more than 3,000 bureaucrats. Akayev had said the action was designed to foster greater efficiency and to save money.