The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is an organization of post-Soviet states founded after the collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1991. CIS countries engage in political, economic, trade, and cultural cooperation; they share a free trade area and a visa-free regime. Nine countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan) are official members of the CIS. Georgia, Turkmenistan, and Ukraine are not official members but had previously participated in CIS activities, while Moldova has reduced its participation in recent years. Nevertheless, market data on the CIS often includes these countries due to their geographic and economic proximity to the region. Together, the 12 countries have approximately
at purchasing power parity (PPP).
Economy of the CIS
The
largest market in the CIS region is Russia, with its gross domestic product (GDP) estimated at almost 1.78 billion U.S. dollars in 2022. To compare, Ukraine's and Kazakhstan's economies are nearly nine times smaller.
In terms of GDP per capita at PPP, the leading economies are Russia, Kazakhstan, and Belarus. However, Kazakhstan's GDP per capita at PPP is forecast to exceed Russia's in 2023 as the Russian economy is projected to shrink under Western sanctions over the war in Ukraine. Russia's economic decline might also negatively affect other CIS countries. For instance,
Kyrgyzstan receives most of its remittances from Russia. At the same time, Armenia and Georgia could benefit from immigration from Russia, as the immigrants are often highly educated and bring capital to their economies.
China is one of the major origins of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the CIS region. As of mid-2022,
China's foreign direct investment (FDI) stock in the CIS exceeded 67 billion U.S. dollars. Furthermore, the
mutual FDI stock of the CIS countries stood at 44.6 billion U.S. dollars, with Russia being the main investment source. Regarding foreign trade, China and Russia are the leading trade partners of most countries in the region. For instance,
Uzbekistan exported the highest value of goods to China, at over 2.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2021.
Digitalization in the CIS
The CIS countries generally have high mobile subscription rates. There were over
146 mobile cellular subscriptions per 100 inhabitants in the CIS, compared to 119 in the Americas. The
mobile broadband internet subscription rate was lower, though still above the global average, at 94 subscriptions per 100 residents. The development of the 5G infrastructure is still ongoing, and in 2030,
four out of ten mobile connections were forecast to be 5G. In Russia, 5G adoption is challenged by the exit of Nokia, Ericsson, and Cisco from the market in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
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