This was stated by the World Bank. In the first half of this year, the Kazakh economy has grown at an annual rate of 5.1%, where 4.4% of the growth is the service sector. It is reported by Kapital.kz Business Portal with the reference to the World Bank.

For example, the World Bank analysts expect that GDP will increase by 5.5% due to the fact that the situation with the oil and agricultural sectors in the Republic of Kazakhstan has stabilized. In the first half of 2013, exports were down compared to the last year by 6% to $ 47.8 billion, while imports has grown by 8% to $ 26.8 billion. The World Bank emphasized that the Kazakh government continues to pursue conservative financial policy, controlling budget expenditures and increasing revenues from the oil business.

Revenues from the oil sector as of August 2013 have exceeded $ 76 billion, while international reserves are $ 91 billion or 44% of GDP. As it pointed out in the World Bank, the National Bank of Kazakhstan has recently started to pursue a more expansionary monetary policy. As a result, banks were forced to increase lending to the economy last year.

“The refinancing rate in August 2012 remained unchanged at the level of 5.5%, while the growth of consumer loans has increased. After the negative effects of the financial crisis, the government has decided to restructure major banks. This measure is still not sufficiently affected the recovery of the banking sector. However, given the availability of equity capital and sufficient liquidity, the number of bad loans remains high (37% of total loans). This limits the granting of loans to enterprises of the oil sector”, the World Bank noted.

It should be noted that after two years of economic recovery following the financial crisis in 2008 – 2009 years, a shortage of supply can be observed in the RK in the oil industry and agricultural sector from 7.5% in 2011 to 5% in 2012. It is possible that the entry of Kazakhstan to the World Trade Organization (WTO) may occur at the end of 2013.

“Currently, bilateral negotiations are at an advanced stage. Discussion of the main aspects of the accession to the WTO should be completed in the coming months. In particular, the discussion can affect aspects such as the investment climate in Kazakhstan, government regulation, the application of customs exemptions, import licensing, protection of intellectual property rights”, one noted in the World Bank. To reach the goal of entering Kazakhstan in the top 30 of the most developed countries before 2050, the country should ensure a balanced and sustainable economic growth.

Experts stress that the economic prospects are directly dependent on the stability of the macroeconomic policies of the government, as well as the sustainable development of the financial sector.

Source: Kapital.kz Business Portal.