Valerii Dil, chairman of parliament\'s Committee on Governance, Legality and Constitutionality, told a 23 June session of parliament that Kyrgyzstan\'s large external debt is hampering the country\'s socioeconomic development. Dil said that the country\'s external debt stood at 76.6 billion soms ($1.7 billion) on 1 January 2004, and that the cost of servicing the debt makes it virtually impossible to allot badly needed funds to social programs. The lawmaker went on to note that economic woes have led to a sharp increase of labor migration, with 200,000-500,000 Kyrgyz citizens seeking work throughout the CIS, primarily in Russia and Kazakhstan, in search of higher wages. (Kyrgyzinfo)