NUR-SULTAN – Kazakhstan has attracted $330 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) from more than 120 countries since its independence, said Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister Zhenis Kassymbek at a Sept. 5 government meeting.
Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister Zhenis Kassymbek. Photo credit: primeminister.kz.
More than 50 percent of FDI in Kazakhstan was attracted from the European Union (EU), including 90.4 billion from the Netherlands, $25.8 billion from Switzerland, $16.1 billion from France, $8.7 billion from Italy, $7.6 billion from Belgium and $5.2 billion from Germany. In addition, 15 percent or $48.4 billion of FDI was attracted from the United States, and 5 percent from the United Kingdom and China each.
Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev set foreign investment attraction as a priority in his Sept. 2 state-of-the-nation address.
Six hundred and fifty FDI projects have been proposed in Kazakhstan since 2010, of which 185 were proposed by EU investors, 111 by Russian investors, 80 by Turkish investors and 55 by Chinese investors. There are also approximately 19,000 businesses with foreign investor involvement in Kazakhstan as of Aug. 1, of which 35.3 percent involve Russian investors, 9.5 percent involve Turkish investors, 5.7 percent involve Uzbek investors, 5.6 percent involve Chinese investors and 3.1 percent involve German investors.
Two hundred and thirty-five FDI projects worth $16.2 billion have been implemented since 2010, of which 133 projects have been implemented with the EU and Russia. Priority has been given to high-tech projects that involved technology transfer and job creation for people in Kazakhstan.
“Given global instability and sanctions, investors choose countries with a stable investment climate. Each country seeks to increase its investment rating, so that not only capital enters the country but, also, new modern technologies,” said Kassymbek.
China has funded and implemented 15 projects worth $3.9 billion in Kazakhstan since 2015, which is approximately 6 percent of the total FDI projects implemented in the country since 2010. This has led to the creation of 3,828 jobs in mechanical engineering, chemical industry, alternative energy and agribusiness.
Five more Kazakh-Chinese projects will be implemented in the country before the end of the year, and new projects that will be implemented in the next 5-6 years are set to create approximately 20,000 new jobs.
“All of these projects in various regions of the country use modern technology, are export-oriented and create jobs for people in Kazakhstan,” said Kassymbek.
