Alikhan Smailov holds Economic Demonopolization Commission meeting
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The issues of taking antimonopoly measures in the areas of oil production and transportation, health care and operation of railway infrastructure were discussed at the Economic Demonopolization Commission headed by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Alikhan Smailov, primeminister.kz reports.
Thus, the activity of a private company owning an oil pipeline, through which raw materials from one of the fields are sent to the bitumen plant for processing, was considered. There are no similar pipelines on this route, which makes it impossible to transport oil by an alternative route.
Taking advantage of its monopoly position, the company set a tariff for services 30 times higher than the tariffs used for oil transportation for similar distances by other market participants.
As a result of the discussion, authorized government agencies are instructed to analyze the validity of the established prices and take the necessary measures through the Committee for Regulation of Natural Monopolies Ministry of National Economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
The meeting also considered the issue of returning a number of services provided to the Atyrau Refinery and Petrochemical Plant under outsourcing to the competence of the plants themselves. In particular, it was noted that the first phase of transferring the functions of maintenance of automatics and pipelines, water supply and plumbing services to the enterprise was completed at Petrochemical Plant. At present, similar work is being done on construction and installation services, maintenance of electrical equipment, power grids and ventilation, shipper services, etc. It should be completed by the end of the current year.
Along with this, the participants discussed the issues of transfer of the enterprise, working in the field of equipping medical organizations with equipment and machinery, from trust management to the Ministry of Healthcare, as well as the operation of railway access roads, previously returned to the state ownership.
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NCOC reduces daily oil output by 38%
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North Caspian Operating Company reduced oil output due to suspension of oil lifting by the Caspian Pipeline Consortium in Novorossiysk Port, Kazinform News Agency reports via the Situation-analytical center of Kazakhstan’s Fuel and Energy complex.
Yesterday, NCOC reduced oil production by 38% - from 54,000 to 33,000 tons. On November 26, Tengizchevroil reduced production by 50% and by another 10% on November 28, the company’s press service informed.
On November 27, CPC announced suspension of oil lifting from the Marine Terminal due to bad weather conditions.
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Government plans to reduce inflation to 5% by 2026 - Alikhan Smailov
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During a briefing for the media after the Senate meeting, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Alikhan Smailov spoke about the fulfillment of the Head of State's instruction to halve inflation in the country, primeminister.kz reports.
The Prime Minister noted that annual inflation, having reached its peak in February, decreased to 10.8% by the end of October.
To date, we already see a two-fold reduction. We forecast that by the end of the year the annual inflation rate will be below 10%. This shows that the relevant set of measures implemented by the Government and the National Bank is yielding results," Alikhan Smailov said.
Thus, the activity of stabilization funds has been reformatted. Funding is directed to agricultural producers as a priority, which allows to support domestic production, develop this sector of the economy and stabilize prices in the market. In addition, commodity interventions are implemented to stabilize prices during the off-season.
Along with this, control activities of regional commissions have been organized. In general, about a thousand unproductive intermediaries have been identified.
Agricultural fairs are organized weekly in all regions of the country to provide the population with cheaper foodstuffs. In order to level the rise in prices for flour and social bread, measures are being taken to supply cheapened grain to the regions from the reserves of "Prodkorporatsiya".
Prime Minister emphasized that the work to reduce inflation by another 2 times in the medium term, i.e. to 5% in 2026, would be continued.
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400 investment projects worth 4.6 trillion tenge to be implemented in Kazakhstan in 2024
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In a briefing for the media after the Senate meeting, Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Alikhan Smailov spoke about the work to attract foreign direct investment in Kazakhstan and the implementation of new investment projects, primeminister.kz reports.
As noted by the Head of Government, the issues of attracting investment in the Republic is given priority importance, as it directly stimulates economic development.
Last year we had a record for the past 10 years, the volume of foreign direct investment amounted to $28 billion. First of all, these investments went to the mining and metallurgical complex, manufacturing, trade, transport and financial sector," Alikhan Smailov said.
He also noted that at the end of the first half of the year, $13.5 billion of direct foreign investment has already been attracted.
In any case, the level of $27-28 billion is a record level for Kazakhstan for the last 10 years. We intend to continue to support such high dynamics of attraction of investments. The Head of State sets a task before us to attract $150 billion of direct foreign investment until 2029," the Prime Minister announced.
According to him, for this purpose a large complex work will be carried out both at the level of the Government and at the level of local executive bodies.
We have formed a pool of investment projects in non-resource sectors. Now it has 970 such projects for 32 trillion tenge. Next year we plan to implement 400 of them for the amount of 4.6 trillion tenge," Alikhan Smailov concluded.
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52% of locomotives worn out in Kazakhstan
More than half of locomotives are worn out in Kazakhstan, Kazinform News Agency quotes minister of transport Marat Karabayev as saying at the government’s weekly meeting today.
According to him, the country’s fleet of locomotives includes 1,880 units, while the level of wear and tear is 52%. 133 locomotives were bought this year. 99 locomotives have been already delivered and another 34 locomotives will be supplied by the end of the year.
In his words, the locomotives are assembled mostly at the domestic plants.
He added that 568 locomotives would be purchased until 2025, which will enable to eliminate rolling stock deficit.
38,000 wagons are used in socially important transportations, namely in energy sector and coal transportation. Kazaknstan Temir Zholy plans to additionally purchase 3,000 open wagons. Of them, 275 wagons have been commissioned this year, said the minister.
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Alikhan Smailov holds IMF mission head meeting in Kazakhstan
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Plans for cooperation between Kazakhstan and the International Monetary Fund for the near and medium term discussed Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Alikhan Smailov and the head of the IMF mission in the Republic of Nicolas Blanchet, primeminister.kz reports.
During the meeting it was emphasized that the Government attaches great importance to the partnership with the International Monetary Fund and appreciates its contribution to the development of Kazakhstan's economy.
Important events of this year were the visit of IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva to Kazakhstan and the opening of the Regional Center for Capacity Development for the Caucasus, Central Asia and Mongolia in Almaty.
As Alikhan Smailov noted, to date the economy of the republic has adapted to the new conditions and shows steady growth. Thus, the GDP growth amounted to 4.9% in the first 10 months of the year. Investments in fixed capital grew by 12.6%, which is a prerequisite for positive dynamics in future periods, in particular, in 2024. At the same time, there is a significant slowdown in inflation due to the implementation of joint measures of the Government and the National Bank.
He added that international rating agencies have also confirmed the sovereign credit rating of Kazakhstan at the investment level. At the same time in October Moody's agency improved its outlook on the rating from stable to positive.
According to Prime Minister, currently in Kazakhstan work on improvement of fiscal policy continues. A new Budget Code is being developed, aimed at simplifying budgetary processes, improving inter-budgetary relations and improving the quality of public finance management in general. In addition, a new Tax Code is being developed.
For us, the main tasks are to ensure macroeconomic stability and further sustainable economic growth. In this context, we are grateful to the IMF for its continued support," Alikhan Smailov said.
In turn, Nicolas Blanchet noted that Kazakhstan has enough strength and opportunities to achieve greater economic growth in the future.
We see the ambitions of the republic to achieve higher growth rates, and we take into account the progress that has already been made. We note this progress in many areas. Of great importance is how this growth will be delivered. That is what is reflected in our advice and recommendations. In our opinion, the leading role should be played by the private sector with the support of the state," the IMF mission head in Kazakhstan said.
At the end of the meeting, the parties confirmed the willingness to continue cooperation for further improvement and development of the financial sector of Kazakhstan.
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Foreign companies sign $1.6bn worth contracts in Kazakhstan
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The ceremony of signing contracts to carry out new projects in Kazakhstan took place as part of the 6th Kazakhstan Global Investment Roundtable with the participation of Kazakh Prime minister Alikhan Smailov, Kazinform Agency cites primeminister.kz.
Within the KGIR-2023, 26 memorandums and commercial documents worth $1.6bn in sectors such as the agro-industrial complex, mining complex, health, light industry, mechanical engineering, education, mortar and chemical production were signed in the presence of the Kazakh Prime minister.
Pfizer is to establish the Prevenar 20 innovative pneumococcal vaccine production in Kazakhstan.
Türkiye’s Çalık Holding is to build a legume processing plant in Kostanay region.
The business conglomerate Alarko Holding reached an agreement with Shymkent’s administration office on the construction of greenhouses.
Lasselsberger group is to build a complex for production of construction adhesive and dry mixtures.
Roche plans to establish production of original biotechnological pharmaceuticals.
Işıklar Packaging is to build a plant for production of craft paper packaging.
Alstom is to open a train repairing station and head service center for maintenance of electric locomotives in Kazakhstan.
This year, the event brought together representatives from Great Britain, Vietnam, Germany, Canada, Qatar, China, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, the USA, Türkiye, France, Czechia, and other countries.
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