23.05.2023, 13:11 44996

Trade between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan hit $1.5bn

Kazakhstan has entered the top three foreign trade partners of Uzbekistan following the 4 months of the year, Kazinform reports.

According to the State Statistics Committee of Uzbekistan, the country’s foreign trade turnover stood at 19.6 billion US dollars in January-April 2023, a $2.3bn or 13.4% year-on-year rise.

The country’s top three foreign trade partners include China - $3.3bn (17% of the total foreign trade), Russia - $2.9bn (15.1%), and Kazakhstan - $1.5bn (7.7%). Turkiye accounted for 5.4% of Uzbekistan’s foreign trade ($1bn), and South Korea 4.1% ($0.8bn).

The data indicate Uzbekistan exported $426.8mln worth of goods to Kazakhstan, and imported goods to the tune of $1,080mln from Kazakhstan.

Earlier it was reported that the two-day trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan hit $5bn in 2022.
 

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15.09.2023, 12:04 22116

A "quick wins" plan will be developed for joint projects between Kazakhstan and Hubei Province of China

This was agreed by the Minister of Trade and Integration of Kazakhstan Arman Shakkaliev during a roundtable with major Chinese entrepreneurs, press service of the Ministry of Trade and Integration reports.

Business negotiations with business captains took place within the framework of trade and economic mission of Kazakhstani commodity producers to the city of Wuhan, Hubei Province. The parties discussed current areas of cooperation, presented their export and investment potential. The Hubei Provincial E-Commerce Association voiced its proposals on transformation of the e-commerce sector.

As the Minister of Trade and Integration noted, the relations between Kazakhstan and China are dynamically developing in all directions. In August, Deputy Prime Minister Serik Zhumangarin held meetings with representatives of Chinese business in Shenzhen and Beijing. Return visits of business circles of Shanxi and Shandun provinces in Astana have already been made.

Today Kazakhstan and China are closely cooperating on 52 joint projects in various sectors of the economy worth over 20 billion dollars. Mutual work is underway in the field of industrialization and investment.

The key sectors identified for attracting investors are agribusiness, processing and logistics, and digital trade. For companies that want to invest, our country has a large-scale package of incentives, which provides for the allocation of land plots for the construction of industrial facilities, tax exemption for up to 10 years, quotas for the import of labor and other preferences. Taking into account the profiles of your companies, we can also offer opportunities to invest in the economy of Kazakhstan", - Arman Shakkaliev addressed the participants of the round table.


The minister noted that the state is very interested in attracting foreign investment in the country.

We are committed to developing the regions of our country. If there is a focused interest in a certain area of Kazakhstan, we are ready to work out promptly on the ground all arising issues on investment projects and related processes. This will be more effective and faster", - said Arman Shakkaliev.


About 20 Chinese companies from various fields, including mineral processing, business services and wholesale trade, construction and operation of energy facilities, solar panel manufacturing, transportation management, cargo warehousing, and e-commerce participated in the talks.

At the meeting, the parties agreed to identify promising projects for early implementation and quick results. QazTrade Trade Policy Development Center together with the Association of Entrepreneurs of Hubei Province will have to develop a plan of concrete actions on export-import of products.

Also, the Minister of Trade and Integration Arman Shakkaliev asked the representatives of the Association to assist Kazakh companies in finding markets. In response, Zhang Fancheng, representative of the Association of Entrepreneurs of Hubei Province, proposed to conduct a marketing campaign for Kazakhstani enterprises so that as many potential partners in China as possible could get an idea of the capabilities of our manufacturers and Kazakhstani brands.

The trade mission of Kazakhstani entrepreneurs to the city of Wuhan, Hubei Province, takes place from September 14 to 16. Business negotiations in B2B format, visits to enterprises, signing of export agreements are planned within the framework of the event.
 

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13.09.2023, 12:39 27281

Kazakhstan plans to increase IT services exports to $1 bln by 2026

Kazakhstan plans to increase IT services exports to $1 bln by 2026
Images | primeminister.kz
The issues of realization of new tasks within the framework of IT-industry development were considered at the Government session under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Alikhan Smailov, primeminister.kz reports.

Minister of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry Bagdat Mussin noted that currently the state policy is aimed at intensive development of the innovation ecosystem in the Republic of Kazakhstan. This includes measures to improve the quality of human capital, create IT infrastructure and venture funds, attract foreign technology companies and create favorable conditions for local startups.

In recent years, as a result of the proactive policy of the state, there has been a sharp increase in interest in the IT sphere. In particular, the number of students at the relevant faculties in universities is increasing. Modern IT schools supplement the personnel base necessary for the creation of innovative economy. Under the TechOrda program, Kazakhstan residents can study in advanced private IT-schools under the voucher system. In the future, in order to improve the quality of education, the issues of allocation of vouchers for the training of teachers and the introduction of quality standards at IT-faculties will be worked out.

The Minister noted that in order to increase the export of Kazakhstan IT services, Silkroad hub representative offices will be opened in South-East Asia and the Middle East in the near future. Also for attraction of qualified specialists the project Digital Nomad Visa will be realized.

In parallel, the work on opening new technological hubs in the regions of the country will continue. To date, 9 sites have already been opened, by the end of the year it is planned to launch 4 more hubs.

It was noted that today 24 venture funds work in the market of Kazakhstan, which have already invested in startups $145 million. However, despite the growth in the number of venture agreements, there is a shortage of funds. In this regard, the Ministry together with market representatives will develop legislative initiatives that will remove restrictions in the venture capital industry.

At the same time, the development of the sphere of artificial intelligence will continue, the Caspian optical infrastructure and data processing centers meeting international standards will be put into operation. It is also planned to create a special economic zone for IT-investors.

During the meeting the akim of Karaganda region Yermaganbet Bulekpayev informed about the work of regional IT-hubs. In addition, Mirat Akhmetsadykov, head of the Most Hub private technopark, and Maksat Kadyrov, co-founder and technical director of the Kwaaka startup, made speeches.

Prime Minister emphasized that today IT-industry is one of the fastest growing in the world economy. Thus, according to experts, this year the volume of the global IT market will reach $4.5 trillion.

In his Address, the Head of State set the task to bring the export of IT services to $1 billion by 2026. This is quite a realistic goal," Alikhan Smailov said.


He noted that in recent years Kazakhstan has made a significant leap in the development of the IT sector. Large global companies and investors are attracted. Favorable conditions for local startups are created.

Only for 3 years the export of IT-services has increased 5 times. At the end of this year it can reach $500 million. IT-hubs and venture capital funds should become the main drivers in achieving this task," Prime Minister said.


Prime Minister also emphasized the need for training of highly qualified specialists in this industry. In this regard, it is required to further develop educational programs, to attract big business for this purpose.

World trends are changing rapidly. To date, artificial intelligence neural networks are actively developing. Even today, many of them not only generate texts and create images, but also write programs several times faster than humans. According to a McKinsey study, by 2030, artificial intelligence will take over most routine operations. In this regard, it is necessary to properly build education and IT-infrastructure," Alikhan Smailov pointed out.


According to him, Kazakhstan should strive to become a full member of the world IT-market. For this purpose it is necessary for each region to have its own IT-hub and modern IT-schools.

There are successful examples. Regional IT-hubs and schools are functioning in Almaty and Karaganda region. It is necessary to scale their experience to other regions," Prime Minister emphasized.


He added that there are also questions on the development of startup projects. In general, at the initial stage there is a whole line of support measures for them, but with the expansion of business there are problems with lack of capital and, as a consequence, the development of the project.

Because of this, many of them remain at the project level. This hinders the development of the IT industry. The export potential of the industry is lost. Here it is necessary to involve big business, banks, venture funds and other instruments. We must use all available opportunities and resources," Alikhan Smailov said.


According to the head of the Government, IT-schools should be created for training and retraining of programmers, designers, engineers and other specialists of this sphere, the training program for IT-specialists should be made more flexible so that it could follow the world trends, as well as programs for exchange of students and experience, internships with leading universities should be established.

In conclusion, Prime Minister instructed to develop amendments to legislation to ensure the development of venture capital financing taking into account international experience and to provide approaches to financing startup projects at the expense of subsoil users' funds allocated for research and development.
 

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13.09.2023, 11:03 31551

Kazakhstan economy grows by 4.9% in 8 months

Kazakhstan economy grows by 4.9% in 8 months
Images | Depositphotos
The results of the social and economic development and implementation of the republican budget for Jan-August were considered at a Government session under the chairmanship of Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Alikhan Smailov, primeminister.kz reports.

As Deputy Minister of National Economy Azamat Amrin reported, Kazakhstan's economy grew by 4.9% during the reporting period. In particular, growth in the real sector amounted to 4.4%, in services amounted to 4.8%. In all major industries are positive dynamics, with the best performance demonstrated by construction, trade, information and communication.

The growth rate of investments in fixed assets amounted to 12.2%. Their inflow increased in such spheres as transportation and warehousing by 49%, education 31.9%, trade 30.1%, agriculture 20.7%, industry 8.5%.

In Jan-July, the foreign trade turnover of the republic increased by 5.7% and amounted to $79.5 billion. Exports reached $44.8 billion, including exports of processed goods amounted to $14.2 billion, and imports to $34.7 billion. In general, the positive trade balance is $10 billion.

According to Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Finance Yerulan Zhamaubayev, during the reporting period the state budget received 12.5 trillion tenge of revenues (the plan was fulfilled by 97.2%). Thus, the republican budget was replenished by 8.3 trillion tenge, local budgets by 4.2 trillion tenge. State budget expenditures were executed by 98.6%, republican budget by 99.3%, local budgets by 98.3%.

Prime Minister noted that the real sector continues to make a significant contribution to GDP growth. For example, the mining industry grew by 4.3% due to an increase in oil production by over 6% and natural gas production by over 3%.

In manufacturing, growth exceeded 3%. In particular, there is an intensive increase in production in the machine building industry by more than 28%, including in the automotive industry by over 42%.

Also high dynamics in the manufacturing sector was shown by light industry - by almost 20%, production of rubber and plastic products - by over 7%, finished metal products by over 6%, foodstuffs by 4% and chemical industry by over 3%.

Prime Minister added that high growth rates were ensured in the construction sector by 11.4%. In general, almost 10 million square meters of housing was commissioned.

According to the results of 8 months, positive dynamics is noted in West Kazakhstan, Kostanay, Kyzylorda, North Kazakhstan regions, the cities of Almaty and Shymkent on all major indicators.

Other regions need to ensure the achievement of target indicators," Prime Minister pointed out.


Due to the measures taken by the results of August there is a decrease in inflation to 13.1%. In this regard, state bodies and regional akimats have been instructed to continue active work on stabilization of prices for food products and stimulation of food production.

The Head of State in his Address set the task to ensure economic growth of the country at the level of 6-7% in the medium term. This is a serious challenge for the Government and akimats. We all need to take effective measures to accelerate growth in key sectors of the country's economy," Alikhan Smailov said.

 

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12.09.2023, 17:13 33726

Kazakhstan plans to expand exports to the Belarusian market

Kazakhstan plans to expand exports to the Belarusian market
Images | Ministry of Trade and Integration
In order to promote exports to the Republic of Belarus, a preliminary list of 105 Kazakhstani non-primary goods in such industries as metallurgy, food production, chemical industry and mechanical engineering has been determined, press service of the Ministry of Trade and Integration reports.

This became known during a bilateral meeting in Astana between the Minister of Trade and Integration of the Republic of Kazakhstan Arman Shakkaliyev and the Minister of Antimonopoly Regulation and Trade of the Republic of Belarus Alexey Bogdanov.

During the negotiations, the parties positively assessed the growing indicators of trade turnover, which reached $1.1 billion in 2022. Positive dynamics has developed over the 6 months of this year, the growth of trade turnover between the countries amounted to 1.5% (456 million US dollars).

During the conversation, the parties "checked the clock", discussing key issues of bilateral relations and interaction in a multilateral format.

The Heads of State have set specific tasks for the Governments of our countries to comprehensively develop Kazakh-Belarusian relations with an emphasis on expanding trade, economic, investment, scientific and technical cooperation. We need to strive to increase our trade turnover, and we have the potential for this", - Arman Shakkaliyev said.


In turn, Alexey Bogdanov expressed interest in establishing a partnership with Kazakhstan. He also congratulated Arman Shakkaliyev on his appointment to the post of Minister and expressed confidence that he would make a significant contribution to the development and improvement of the industry.

Following the meeting, the parties expressed hope for fruitful bilateral cooperation and active cooperation on the lifting of trade restrictions.
 

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04.09.2023, 13:27 50901

Kazakhstan ready to increase supplies of its products to China - Alikhan Smailov

Kazakhstan ready to increase supplies of its products to China - Alikhan Smailov
Images | primeminister.kz
Alikhan Smailov, Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and Lin Wu, Secretary of the Party Committee of Shandong Province of China, discussed the activation of cooperation in trade and economic and transport and logistics spheres, primeminister.kz reports.

Head of the Government noted that today more than 6% of the total volume of trade between Kazakhstan and China falls on Shandong. However, Kazakhstan is interested in further promotion of its goods in the Chinese market and the search for new areas of cooperation. Given this, the development of transportation potential and deepening of cooperation within the framework of the "One Belt, One Road" initiative is of particular relevance.

This will be facilitated by the launch of the first return train on the route "China - Europe" for the delivery of Kazakh barley to the PRC, which took place the day before in Almaty. We are ready to increase the supply of Kazakhstani products along this route and expand the range of supplied goods and services," Alikhan Smailov said.


Prime Minister also emphasized the importance of holding in Astana a Kazakh-Chinese forum on cooperation with Shandong Province.

Undoubtedly, this event will expand productive trade and investment interaction between our business circles," he said.


In turn, Lin Wu emphasized that productive cooperation has already been established between Shandong Province and the regions of Kazakhstan. At the same time, there is great potential to expand cooperation in the areas of deep processing of agricultural products, trade and construction of logistics infrastructure.

This time representatives of more than 100 enterprises of Shandong Province in the above sectors came with us. We expect to sign a number of joint trade and economic projects. We are confident that through common efforts, our future cooperation will be more extensive. We are willing to deepen the partnership between our enterprises and realize more joint projects," Lin Wu said.


For reference: Shandong Province is located on China's east coast and is an important agricultural production area. It grows wheat, cotton, peanuts, tobacco, bast crops, etc. Shandong is one of the country's major horticultural and field-growing areas, leading aquaponics and silk cocoon breeding centers.

In December 2022, Kazakhstan Temir Zholy and Shandong Port Group, China's largest port operator, signed a Memorandum of Cooperation under which they agreed to develop multimodal container services and related digital products.
 

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31.08.2023, 16:03 67076

Fulfilling Head of State Addresses: Scheduled business inspections to be reduced by 2 times

On the work on the development of entrepreneurship and reducing the share of state participation in the economy in the framework of implementation of the messages of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan told the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Alikhan Smailov took part in an expanded meeting of the faction of AMANAT party, primeminister.kz reports.

Head of the Government noted that since 2020 there is a moratorium on inspections of small and microbusinesses in the republic, which is extended until 2024.

The share of SMEs in the economy has increased compared to 2019 from 31.7% to 36.5%. The number of operating SMEs has increased by 27% over the last year alone and exceeded 1.8 million. The total number of people employed in the sector increased by 18% over the year and reached 4.1 million people. Positive results are associated with the effectiveness of interaction between the business community and the authorities," Alikhan Smailov said.


According to Prime Minister, the principle of "regulation from scratch" has been successfully tested. 128 thousand requirements in 44 spheres have been analyzed, of which more than 10 thousand requirements that do not meet the conditions of the new regulatory policy have been identified. Of these, 9 thousand have already been excluded at the subordinate legislation level.

Automation of risk management systems in the spheres of state control and supervision is also being carried out with their full operation starting from January 1, 2024. This automated approach will make it possible to schedule inspections without human involvement. As a result, scheduled inspections of business will be reduced by 2 times.

At the same time, Alikhan Smailov emphasized that privatization is one of the key areas to limit the role of the state in the economy. Since 2019, about 1 thousand organizations with state participation have been privatized.

Packages of shares of national companies Kazmunaigas and Kazatomprom were successfully brought to IPO and SPO." Work in this direction continues. As a result of these measures in 2023, the share of the state in the economy has been reduced to about 14%," he said.


Prime Minister also added that another initiative to strengthen the social responsibility of the quasi-public sector has been implemented. Since this year, an annual transfer of 7% of the net income of the Samruk-Kazyna Fund to the Kazakstan Khalkyna public fund is carried out.
 

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30.08.2023, 09:07 72076

Average annual growth of Kazakhstan economy in next 5 years forecasted at 5.8%

Average annual growth of Kazakhstan economy in next 5 years forecasted at 5.8%
Images | Depositphotos
The Kazakhstan socio-economic development forecast for 2024-2028, as well as the parameters of the national budget and transfers from the National Fund for 2024-2026 years considered at the Government session of the Republic of Kazakhstan, primeminister.kz reports.

Minister of National Economy Alibek Kuantyrov said that the forecast of development of the republic was formed taking into account the expectations of international financial organizations on the growth of the world economy and the conjuncture on foreign markets. Three scenarios are considered in total including basic, optimistic and pessimistic.

In the baseline scenario, it is proposed to take the average oil price at $80 per barrel. According to the forecast, the average annual GDP growth for 5 years will amount to 5.8%. Inflation is set at the level of 6-8% in 2024, 5.5-7.5% in 2025 with a subsequent decline to 5% in 2026-2028.

Real GDP growth is projected to be 5.3% in 2024 with a further increase to 6% in 2028. Nominal GDP will grow from 135 trillion tenge in 2024 to 218.5 trillion tenge in 2028.

In general, growth is expected in all basic sectors of the economy. Thus, the average annual rate in industry will be 4%, including 4.9% in manufacturing and 3.1% in mining. The average annual growth in gross agricultural output will reach 4.5%. The projected growth in the construction industry will average 8.8%, in trade 7.4%.

The volume of exports is planned to reach $83.1 billion in 2024 with an increase to $94.8 billion in 2028, imports will grow from $60.7 to 65.6 billion.

Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan - Minister of Finance Yerulan Zhamaubayev made a report on the draft national budget for 2024-2026. According to him, revenues in 2024 are projected at the level of 20.4 trillion tenge, and expenditures are planned with an increase of 1.5 trillion tenge in relation to 2023 to about 24 trillion tenge. The main share of budget expenditures falls on the social sphere.

Next year, transfers in the amount of 3.6 trillion tenge will also be attracted from the National Fund. These funds will be used to implement socially significant and important infrastructure projects. This concerns the modernization of roads, heat, gas and water supply networks, engineering networks, as well as the construction of social facilities under the national projects "Comfortable School" and "Modernization of Rural Health Care".

As Prime Minister noted, the presented draft national budget for the three-year period is primarily aimed at full and timely fulfillment of all social obligations of the state, as well as ensuring quality and sustainable development of the economy.

The guaranteed transfer from the National Fund has been determined taking into account the minimum oil price and will not exceed the volume of revenues from the oil sector. At the same time, the growth of budget expenditures will not exceed the average level of long-term economic growth, taking into account the inflation target.

In general, the draft budget is balanced. As in previous years, it remains social. 9.9 trillion tenge is envisaged for the social sphere in 2024," Alikhan Smailov emphasized.


Head of the Government pointed out that in the real sector of the economy the priority areas remain the development of manufacturing industry, business support, development of transport infrastructure and gasification.

The expenditures of this block are planned in 2024 in the amount of 2.8 trillion tenge. We have a task to maximize the effective use of budget funds," he said.


After the voting procedure on the submitted documents, Alikhan Smailov instructed to ensure the introduction of bills and the Forecast of socio-economic development in the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
 

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28.08.2023, 18:24 77386

Measures to curb price increases - a factor of public safety

Measures to curb price increases - a factor of public safety
At the Round table in the Central Communications Service, the Chairman of the Trade Committee Ministry of Trade and Integration of the Republic of Kazakhstan Aidar Abildabekov spoke about the mechanisms of price regulation in order to maintain the availability of basic food for the population, press service of the Ministry of Trade and Integration reports.

The Trade Committee was established in the structure of MIT in January last year to monitor prices and coordinate the activities of government agencies in order to prevent uncontrolled price increases for basic foodstuffs.

The Committee's actions are mainly focused on preventing a shortage of basic products in the domestic market and supporting domestic producers.

The Committee constantly analyzes the pricing chains in order to identify and eliminate unnecessary intermediaries; regular working trips to the regions are carried out on the issues of the smooth functioning of greenhouses, the purchase of rice, the creation of reserve stocks of onions, potatoes, early vegetables.

To curb the growth of prices for socially important food products, a Roadmap of 17 measures has been approved, which include, in particular, the revision and updating of data on vegetable storages; the inclusion of early vegetables in the list of priority crops; amendments to the NPA banning the issuance of phytosanitary certificates immediately after the adoption of the protocol decision of the Ministry of Internal Affairs; support for the development of modern trade formats and others.

These measures made it possible to establish control over the filling of the basic food basket of Kazakhstanis throughout the chain - from the field to storage, delivery to retail chains and sale to the end consumer and create a commodity balance in which the provision of essential products is a completely transparent process that allows you to make decisions quickly to protect the domestic market.

The MIT Trade Committee is working to ensure that cash receipts at retail outlets are of the same sample throughout the country. According to the chairman of the Committee, now checks and names of goods are prescribed differently. "You all go to the shops and see that there is a general price, there is a name of a retail chain. The most interesting thing is that each retail chain has different names. Someone will have written "milk", someone will have "milk of 29% fat content", someone will have "sut", someone will have "mlk" or "mol". The cash receipts that are printed by the operators of fiscal data, we will screen them, look at them, we can't look at everything perfectly. We are working to ensure that all retail outlets have uniform standards, a single cash receipt. And then we will electronically see the entire dynamics of decline or increase. We will see it clearly in the mirror," Aidar Abildabekov said.
 

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