Kazakhstan’s economy received a record $22.5 billion in foreign investment in 2012, First Deputy Minister of Industry and New Technologies of Kazakhstan Albert Rau said at a government meeting on July 16. He noted that the investment structure had changed over recent years and that more than 40 percent of the investments were in the processing sector after the implementation of the State Programme of Accelerated Industrial-Innovative Development (SPAIID). The programme identified 20 priority investor-countries and established business/investment road maps with each. According to Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Industry and New Technologies, products amounting to 270 billion tenge were produced in Kazakhstan’s special economic zones and enterprises there paid 28 billion in taxes, almost a half what they were allocated from budget funds.
Revenue from customs duties and taxes came to 620.4 billion tenge in the first half of this year, exceeding the expected 603.5 billion tenge, Deputy Chairman of the Customs Control Committee Amaniyaz Yerzhanov said at a briefing in mid-July. Customs duties and tax revenues increased 37.6 percent, or 1.1 percentage points higher than during the same period last year, the prime minister’s website reported. The share of customs duties and taxes in the volume of imports increased from 7.9 percent to 9.3 percent. According to the committee, this is a direct result of improved customs administration. In addition, post-entry control revenues increased by 3 percent.
The Economic Forum of the United Nations Special Programme for the Economies of Central Asia (SPECA) and session of the SPECA Governing Council under the chairmanship of Kazakhstan will be held in Kazakhstan in November, the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported on July 18, 2013. This was announced during a meeting of Kazakh Ambassador to Thailand Marat Yessenbayev with United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) Executive Secretary Dr. Noeleen Heyzer. During the meeting, special attention was also paid to Kazakhstan’s Green Bridge initiative, which aims to develop a green economy and the use of renewable energy for sustainable development.
According to the World Bank’s report ranking countries by gross domestic product per capita in 2013, Kazakhstan has the highest per capita income of the countries of Central Asia at $9,730. GDP per capita is $5,550 in Turkmenistan, $1,650 in Uzbekistan, $990 in Kyrgyzstan and $860 in Tajikistan. According to the World Bank’s rating, the United States takes first place in per capita income, then China, Japan, Germany and France. The poorest country in the world is the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the per capita income is $220. Wikipedia provides different figures: the income per capita in Kazakhstan is $13,893, $6,497 in Turkmenistan, $2,000 in Tajikistan, $1,895 in Uzbekistan and $1,070 in Kyrgyzstan.
During eleven months in 2012-2013, Iran increased exports of raisins to Kazakhstan 19-fold, Iran News reported, citing official statistics. According to official statistics, from July 2012 to May 2013, Kazakhstan purchased 1.7 tons of raisins from the Iranian market, while the previous season’s imports from that country amounted to only 80 tons. The increase in exports improved Iran’s ranking in the list of countries supplying raisins to Kazakhstan, moving it from fifth to second place. Traditionally, Uzbekistan is a leading exporter of raisins to Kazakhstan.
The list of non-core assets and facilities of a group of companies of Samruk Kazyna subject to restructuring has been published. Samruk Kazyna and its affiliate organisations KazMunayGas National Company, Kazatomprom, Kazakhstan Temir Zholy and Samruk Energo are actively restructuring non-core assets and facilities by means of their sale, liquidation, reorganisation and transfer to central and local executive bodies. The planned measures to restructure the non-core assets and facilities of Samruk Kazyna’s affiliate organisations were approved by the board of directors on April 24 this year. The action plan provides for complete implementation by the end of 2015.
