World Bank: Slowing growth in Central Asia and Europe calls for education reform
Images | Depositphotos
According to the World Bank, economic growth in Central Asia and Europe is stabilizing after several crises but remains weak, reports a Kazinform News Agency correspondent.
World Bank’s Economic Update says that growth in the region is expected to slow to 3.3% this year, down from 3.5% in 2023, and further to 2.6% by 2025. This is far below the 5.1% average of 2000-09 and insufficient for middle-income countries aiming for high-income status.
Lower inflation has led some central banks to cut rates, but concerns about price pressure persist. The World Bank stresses the need for an overhaul of education, especially higher education, to boost human capital and drive long-term economic growth.
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 forecast for Kazakhstan’s GDP shows growth at 4.7% in 2025, before declining to 3.5% in 2026, following the current rate of 3.4% in 2024.
Growth in Central Asia is supported by private consumption, rising wages, remittances, and tourism, which has surpassed pre-pandemic levels. However, the slowdown in EU exports is a drag on the region’s economy.
Education remains a key challenge, with quality declining, especially in higher education. "The greatest scope for boosting long-term growth in the region lies in raising the quality of education," said Ivailo Izvorski, World Bank Chief Economist for Europe and Central Asia. "Prioritizing quality of education and supporting lifelong learning will help countries bolster their human capital, reduce talent misallocation and waste, energize innovation, and drive sustainable economic growth and development."
This information may not be reproduced without reference to Kazakhstan Today. Copyright of materials of News Agency Kazakhstan Today.
relevant news
Non-tax payments totalled 921 billion tenge, six times higher than plan
Images | freepik.com
At the Government session, Finance Minister Madi Takiyev presented the results of execution of the state budget for 9 months of 2024. Excluding transfers received 14.9 trillion tenge, which is 93.2% of the planned. The republican budget received about 9 trillion tenge, primeminister.kz reports.
The Minister noted that the main factor in the failure to fulfil the revenue plan was the decline in tax revenues. Thus, their actual volume amounted to 8.1 trillion tenge, which is 2.6 trillion tenge less than planned.
Madi Takiyev pointed out 3 key factors that affected the fulfilment of targets:
- 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.
Receipts of transfers to the republican budget totalled 4.5 trillion tenge, including guaranteed from the National Fund in the amount of 2 trillion tenge.
Madi Takiyev paid special attention to the results of local budgets. Their own revenues were fulfilled by 115% and totalled 5.9 trillion tenge. The 127% growth was ensured by assigning to local budgets stable taxes that do not depend on external factors. As a result, this expands the financial autonomy of the regions and gives them the opportunity to address pressing issues.
State budget expenditures were executed by 95.6 per cent, republican budget - by 95.5 per cent, local budgets - by 97.4 per cent. The republican budget expenditures amounted to 16.7 trillion tenge, the priority of which remains the preservation of social orientation.
The state fulfilled the main social obligations: pensions and benefits in the amount of 4 trillion tenge, subventions to the regions - 4 trillion tenge, target contribution of the Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund 1.3 trillion tenge. Local budget expenditures totalled 10.1 trillion tenge. The main share of expenditures is also directed to the social sphere amounting to 5.2 trillion tenge or 51%. Expenditure on housing and utilities totalled 1.3 trillion tenge, agriculture 602 billion tenge, transport and communications 918 billion tenge.
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.
Conducted 1.2 thousand audit activities to the amount of 6.7 trillion tenge of budget funds. Financial violations for the amount of about 260 billion tenge were identified. Violations for 214 billion tenge have been eliminated.
Work is underway to systematically reduce the share of government procurement from a single source through direct contracting. Thus, from 2017 to 2024, the share of such purchases decreased from 64 per cent to 23 per cent.
The Ministry will continue to work on improving the efficiency of management and utilisation of budget funds, state assets and quasi-public sector entities, including through the expansion of implemented digital tools.
This information may not be reproduced without reference to Kazakhstan Today. Copyright of materials of News Agency Kazakhstan Today.
Kazakhstan’s KazMunayGas pursues sustainable aviation fuel production
Images | KazMunayGas
Kazakhstan's KazMunayGas JSC (KMG) is investigating the potential for producing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), recognizing it as a key to the future of air transport, Trend.az reports.
The development was revealed following a meeting between KMG Chairman of the Board Askhat Kassenov and IATA Vice President Rafael Schwartzman.
KMG has conducted a comprehensive market analysis and concluded that the development of the aviation sector is directly linked to the adoption of SAF.
This initiative aligns with the global trend to reduce carbon emissions, a commitment Kazakhstan has actively joined through the CORSIA framework aimed at offsetting and reducing emissions in international aviation.
Additionally, Hasenov noted that since 2020, three Kazakh oil refineries have been prepared to produce traditional Jet A-1 aviation fuel. However, a full transition to the new fuel type will require the modernization of the entire infrastructure, from oil depots to airports.
Earlier, Deputy Transport Minister Maksat Kaliakparov and the Chair of the Civil Aviation Committee of Kazakhstan, Saltanat Tompiyeva, also met with the IATA representative. The central topic of discussion was the transition of Kazakhstan's civil aviation to Jet A-1 fuel.
This information may not be reproduced without reference to Kazakhstan Today. Copyright of materials of News Agency Kazakhstan Today.
Kazakhstan to build sugar mills with capacity to process 1 mln tons of cane a year
Kazakhstan plans to build a sugar factory with the capacity to process 1 million tons of cane a year in Zhambyl region. K-Agro Holding and Baiterek Holding are expected to develop the project presented at the Government’s meeting chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Serik Zhumangarin, Kazinform News Agency learnt from the Government’s press service.
The factory is projected to process some 8-10,000 tons a day to crush 1 million tons of sugar beets and produce 130,000 tons of sugar a year.
In addition, modernization is underway at the existing sugar mills to increase processing capabilities. All this will help Kazakhstan gradually reduce sugar import dependency and start sugar beets processed goods production. Currently, Kazakhstan has four sugar factories with a total capacity to process 8,700 tons of sugar beets and 2,400 tons of raw cane sugar.
Last year domestic sugar consumption made 507,000 tons. The country's bulk needs are covered by refined sugar imports from the EAEU countries and raw cane sugar processing.
This information may not be reproduced without reference to Kazakhstan Today. Copyright of materials of News Agency Kazakhstan Today.