Kazakhstan Economic Crisis Content q The economy

Kazakhstan Economic Crisis

Content: q The economy of Kazakhstan q The global financial crisis may be starting to have a political effect on Kazakhstan q Anti crisis program q Crisis showed that Kazakhstan is strong and efficiently functioning country – N. Nazarbayev said q Conclusion

The economy of Kazakhstan is the largest economy in Central Asia. It possesses enormous oil reserves as well as minerals and metals. It also has considerable agricultural potential with its vast steppe lands accommodating both livestock and grain production, as well as developed space infrastructure, which took over all launches to the International Space Station from the Space Shuttle. The mountains in the south are important for apples and walnuts; both species grow wild there. Kazakhstan's industrial sector rests on the extraction and processing of these natural resources and also on a relatively large machine building sector specializing in construction equipment, tractors, agricultural machinery, and some military items.

Special economic zones operating in Kazakhstan Astana – New City (construction materials, business) Burabay Atyrau Burabay (tourism cluster Petrochemical Park (petrochemical industry) Marine port Aktau (naval transportation, marine freight) Ontustyk (textile industry, agriculture) IT-Park ‘Alatau’ (hi-tech, software) Company established in Free economic zone is exempted not only from paying corporate, land property taxes but also from value-added tax.

Kazakhstan is recovering from economic crisis due to a timely stimulus program and higher oil prices, but stagnant credit growth and banking sector troubles continue to weigh on economic activity, the International Monetary Fund said.

The global financial crisis may be starting to have a political effect on Kazakhstan. As the government in Astana digs ever deeper into its coffers in an attempt to stabilize the country's economy, opposition parties are hoping to make a political comeback by riding a wave of popular discontent. Kazakhstan has been hit hard by the global financial downtown. Since the start of the year, President Nursultan Nazarbayev's administration has earmarked billions of dollars for various financial stabilization and bailout programs. Even so, hundreds of thousands of Kazakhstanis are facing the prospect of a significant decline in living standards, due in part to the dramatic decline of the Kazakhstani currency and skyrocketing food prices.

The Kazakh Government is implementing anti crisis program since early April. The program is mainly concerned state officials. The Government hoped to save over 500 million euro and declared new anti crisis measures on April 1. The program envisages a sharp reduction of the so called non-specialized expenditure, which are extending daily… President Nursultan Nazarbayev ordered to "carry out similar measures in all state companies, joint stock companies and banks. However, the President said that "banks, their employees and administrations are living like before. But crisis is outside! It should be different. Banks survive, but are functioning on the same way. They fly by crafts and swim in the same yacht, " the President said.

The meeting focused on the results of the country's socio-economic development in 9 months of 2010 and the objectives for the forthcoming period. The President noted that the country's economy demonstrates good rates of development today. Thus, the GDP grew by 7. 5%. Industrial output increased by 10%. In processing industry this figure made 20%, in chemical industry - 77% and in engineering it was 56%. 200 thousand new jobs have been created countrywide since the year beginning. "All regions observe high rates of economic growth. Incomes of the population rose by 10%-30%. The volume of retail goods turnover grew too. This is the result of the local executives' work", N. Nazarbayev said. According to the Head of State, such results were achieved due to the anti-crisis measures and strong financial support of economy at the expense of own reserves.

Conclusion The way to resolve the economic crisis is to accept the realities of the Information Age and to adapt to them our governance and our worldview. Any attempt to resolve the economic crisis by financial manipulations is doomed to failure: the solution must reflect objectively occurring societal changes brought about by the advent of the Age, where not the social structures or the groups of people are actors, but where everything revolves around an Individual.