ASTANA – Kazakhstan is set to create the Export Credit Agency, based on the KazakhExport insurance company, to expand measures to support exporters. In the first reading, the deputies of Mazhilis, the lower chamber of the Kazakh Parliament, have approved the relevant draft law. In a Kazinform interview, Mazhilis deputy Ruslan Kozhasbayev spoke about the agency’s tools that are supposed to facilitate the agency’s work.
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According to Kozhasbayev, the Kazakh Export provided only two instruments of support from the state: insurance of export transactions and reinsurance. Following the President’s instructions to move towards industrialization and the manufacturing industry, the Ministry of Trade and Integration initiated the draft law to create an agency with expanded powers.
“The agency will provide several new tools, including interest rate subsidies, guarantee of export transactions, and reimbursement of exporters’ costs for promotion to foreign markets,” he said.
The agency will consider the world practice of developing non-resource exports through export credit agencies accountable to governments.
“The law focuses on the non-resource sector, bringing all services together in one place using the single window principle. It will be easier for business. They will save time. Now, if an exporter wants to export goods, he must contact various structures. It is difficult and inconvenient,” he said.
According to Kozhasbayev, in January-June, the primary industrial goods exported from Kazakhstan were copper and copper cathodes, ferroalloys, uranium, petroleum products, silver, raw zinc, hot-rolled flat products from non-alloy steel, and others.
As for the export of agricultural goods, the main non-commodity goods were wheat flour, sunflower oil, water, mineral water, margarine, tobacco products, and pasta.
In the first half of this year, Kazakhstan witnessed a 33.4% growth in the volume of sunflower oil exports compared to the same period last year.
