Economy of Kazakhstan - Macro-economic Trend

Macro-economic Trend

This chart shows trends in the gross domestic product of Kazakhstan at market prices estimated by the International Monetary Fund, with figures in millions of Kazakhstani tenges.

For purchasing-power parity comparisons, the US Dollar is exchanged at 59.95 Tenges only. Mean wages comprised $6.93 per man-hour in 2009.

Kazakhstan has managed its monetary policy well. Its principal challenge in 2001 was to manage strong foreign-currency inflows without sparking inflation. Inflation had, in fact, stayed under control, registering 9.8% in 2000, and appeared likely to be under 10% in 2001. Because of its strong economic performance and financial health, Kazakhstan became the first former Soviet republic to repay all of its debt to the IMF by paying back $400 million in 2000; 7 years ahead of schedule. Overall foreign debt amounts to about $12.5 billion, $4 billion of it owed by the government. This amounts to 6.9% of GDP, well within manageable levels.

The upturn in economic growth, combined with the results of earlier reforms in taxation and in the financial sector, dramatically improved government finances from the 1998 budget deficit level of 4.2% of GDP to a slight surplus in 2000. Government tax-revenues grew from 16.4% of GDP in 1999 to 20.6% of GDP in 2000. In 2000, Kazakhstan adopted a new tax-code in an effort to consolidate these gains. Its strong financial position also allowed the government to reduce the value-added tax (VAT) from 20% to 16% and to reduce social (payroll) taxes as of July 2001. Kazakhstan's stronger budget-position and strong export-earnings earned it credit-rating upgrades from Moody's, S&P, and Fitch during 2001.

Kazakhstan instituted a pension reform program in 1998 that was partly based on the model of the Chilean pension system but included modifications. By July 2001, Kazakhstanis had contributed more than $1 billion to their own personal pension-accounts, mostly managed by the private sector. The National Bank oversees and regulates the pension funds. The pension funds' growing demand for quality investment outlets triggered rapid development of the debt-securities market. Pension-fund capital is being invested almost exclusively in corporate and government bonds, including Government of Kazakhstan Eurobonds. The Kazakhstani banking system is developing rapidly. Banking systems capitalization now exceeds $1 billion. The National Bank has introduced deposit insurance in its campaign to strengthen the banking sector. Several major foreign banks have branches in Kazakhstan, including ABN AMRO, Citibank, and HSBC. Kazakhstan is also a member of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO).

According to the Republic of Kazakhstan Agency for Statistics, in January–March 2010 production of GDP amounted to 3,881.6 billion tenge and an increase of 7.1%.