NUR-SULTAN — The West Kazakhstan region showed positive dynamics in the main socio-economic indicators by the end of 2020, the region has been implementing major projects in attracting investments, manufacturing industrial products, agriculture and the creation of workplaces, according to primeminister.kz.
Click to see map in full. Photo credits: primeminister.kz.
The manufacturing industry is one of the major sectors of the region’s economy. The West Kazakhstan region is the fourth region (after Atyrau, Mangistau and Karaganda regions) in terms of its contribution to the total volume of the country’s manufacturing industry.
The industrial production grew by 3.7 percent, including growth in the mining industry by 4.8 percent.
The West Kazakhstan region’s industry is concentrated in Uralsk city, the capital. Other cities of the region are Aksai, Peremyotnoye, Daryinskoye, Kaztalovka and Saykhin.
The main industries of the region are machine-building, food industry, oil and gas industries: oil and gas extraction at the Karachaganak and Chinaryovski deposits.
Agriculture
Agriculture plays an important role in the economics of the West Kazakhstan region, with stock breeding (sheep, goats, cattle, horses, and camels) predominating. Wheat, barley, and other grains are grown, mainly in the north and in river valleys of West Kazakhstan region. There are also extensive haylands, and there is fishing in the Ural River.
In 2020, 20.4 billion tenge (US$47 million) was allocated from the budget to support agriculture, which is 29.1 percent more than in 2019.
Horse breeding is one of the main industries of West Kazakstan’s agricultural sector. Photo credits: primeminister.kz.
The gross harvest of grain crops amounted to 292,300 tons of grain, which is 20.7 percent more than in 2019, the gross harvest of oilseeds amounted to 63,100 tons, which is 23.8 percent less than in 2019, the gross harvest of potatoes amounted to 64,300 tons or less by 0.3 percent of the level of 2019, the gross harvest of vegetable and melon crops – 76,800 tons, which is less by 9.2 percent than in 2019.
In animal husbandry, there was an increase in the number of cattle by 10 percent, sheep by 4.9 percent, goats by 6.2 percent, horses by 15.7 percent and camels by 6.5 percent.
Investments
The volume of investments in fixed assets at the end of 2020 was reduced by 21.6 percent and amounted to 468 billion tenge (US$1 billion). The decline is mainly observed in such industries as mining, manufacturing, construction and trade. The growth is observed in agriculture due to the implementation of two large glasshouses and a dairy farm.
The share of external investments is 58 percent.
To attract investments and improve the investment climate in the region, a trilingual online investment platform on invest07.gov.kz operates which contains complete, reliable and up-to-date information about the region and investment projects being implemented.
