Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan sign 76 documents worth over $350mln

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Countries of the Europe and Central Asia region have ably navigated the recent shocks of high inflation, the fallout from Russia-Ukraine conflict, and weak expansion in the European Union, the region’s key export market," said Antonella Bassani, World Bank Vice President for Europe and Central Asia.

The growth of the economy this year is fully provided by the development of the non-resource sector. Among the sectors, agriculture and construction show the highest growth. Transport services grew by 8%, communications - by 6.4%, trade - by 6.3%, manufacturing - by 4.8%. 65% of GDP growth is provided by trade, manufacturing, construction and agriculture," Deputy Prime Minister said.

Manufacturing maintains a positive growth rate. The volume of production increased by 4.8 per cent. Growth was recorded in 14 regions. The largest increase is noted in Kyzylorda region, Mangystau region, Turkestan region, Aktobe region and Ulytau. Growth in the manufacturing industry is mainly due to the growth of production in metallurgy by 8.3% and mechanical engineering by 4.2%," the Minister stressed.

In January-September this year, 12.4 million m2 of housing was commissioned, which is 6.2% more than the corresponding period last year. The highest indicators are observed in the city of Shymkent, North Kazakhstan, Pavlodar and Turkestan regions," Nurlan Baibazarov said.

• Ensure the utilisation of investment budgets with strict control over the amount of utilisation;
• Ensure the planned volumes of oil production by the end of the year;
• Samruk-Kazyna Holding should ensure that the group of companies increases the purchase of products from domestic producers;
• To complete the collection of grain in full volume, Kazakhstan Temir Zholy JSC and interested state bodies to ensure uninterrupted transportation and sale of grain, including for export.

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• Reduction in oil production: for 9 months oil production decreased by 5.3 million tonnes.
• Slowdown of the global economy: the factor had a negative impact on foreign economic activity, as a result of which imports decreased by 8.3%, including with PRC by 6.5% and with EAEU countries by 4%. The decline in prices for the main export metals also affected budget revenues.
• Increase in VAT refunds: in the first 9 months of this year, VAT refunds totalled KZT946bn, 3 times higher than last year.

Non-performance on taxes is compensated by an increase in non-tax payments, which with the plan for the reporting period of 148 billion tenge, actually amounted to 921 billion tenge. Over-fulfilment of the plan was ensured due to the receipt of dividends on state-owned blocks of shares, which are in state ownership, in the amount of 684 billion tenge. As for the proceeds from the sale of fixed capital, with the plan of 1.7 billion tenge, the budget received KZT 5.1 billion. It should be noted that the measures taken in the field of digitalisation of administration are one of the effective tools to improve efficiency. Thus, for 9 months of this year in the framework of tax and customs administration provided 794 billion tenge of additional revenues," the Minister said.

One of the important components of budget execution is the public procurement process. More than 120 thousand suppliers and more than 24 thousand customers are registered on the web portal. The volume of public procurement at the end of 9 months of 2024 totalled more than 7.8 trillion tenge. In the past reporting period, the optimisation of budget funds through savings in public procurement amounted to 813 billion tenge," the Minister said.

Daily monitoring is required, taking timely measures to promote the growth of lagging industries. Akimats need to focus on supporting the manufacturing industry, as well as stimulating construction and trade. There are great reserves here," Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov emphasised.

The relevant ministries and akimats should on a permanent basis assist entrepreneurs in expanding markets for their products and export basket. It is necessary to search for foreign enterprises to relocate production facilities and promote increased localisation at existing production facilities. I set a task for everyone to ensure the fulfilment of the target indicator on investment in fixed assets by the end of the year," Olzhas Bektenov instructed, highlighting the manufacturing sector, agribusiness, transport and logistics, as well as water and electricity supply. The MFA is tasked to strengthen investment work with monthly reporting on the results and problematic issues at meetings of the Investment Headquarters.

State and local executive bodies need to mobilise all resources for qualitative growth of the economy by the end of this year. In the current conditions it is not easy. Therefore, it is necessary to redouble efforts in this direction. This will require coordinated and effective work of each ministry and the region," Olzhas Bektenov emphasised.