NUR-SULTAN – The Akim (Mayor) of Almaty Bakytzhan Sagintayev reported that the economic growth indicator of the largest city in Kazakhstan reached 107.8 percent due to the implementation of anti-crisis measures, such as tax and lease payment exemptions and subsidized interest rates on loans at the June 25 briefing in Almaty.
Photo credit: iStock/Mathias Rhode.
Fixed capital investments in Almaty amounted to $832.3 million with an increase of 32.7 percent. In total, 84 investment projects with an overall investment of $736.5 billion and 10,000 employment opportunities will be made available in the city by the end of 2021.
The economic growth is accounted for by the considerable increase in investments in the industrial sector. Nine projects with $94.3 million in investments are expected to be implemented by the end of the year and create 823 jobs.
Out of all industries, construction achieved the largest growth of 24.7 percent. Communication services come in second with 13.4 percent growth.
On the labor market, more than 31,000 vacancies were created in Almaty over the first five months of 2021. The unemployment rate in the first quarter decreased by 0.1 percent from 5.3 to 5.2 percent.
The Akimat of Almaty plans to expand the potential of the rapidly growing creative economic sector and create more co-working spaces aimed at providing an accessible and productive environment for young creative youth.
“More than 50,000 Kazakh citizens are employed in the creative industry with more than half of the country’s creative business located in Almaty. In the future, there will be creative hubs in each of the eight districts of the city. By the end of the year, we will introduce the Depo Evolution Park built in the location of the former tram fleet,” said Sagintayev.
In terms of urban development, a 2025 digitalization strategy was developed to create a unified IT architecture and implement big data and artificial intelligence in Almaty city management. Two new metro stations are expected to open by the end of the year.
Work continues in the ecotourism industry, as 500 kilometers of trails were landscaped and more than 1,000 kilometers of mountain routes have been digitized so far in the Almaty mountain area.
