According to the forecasts for the first quarter of 2014 growth in gross domestic product (GDP) in Kazakhstan amounted to 2,9% , Kazakhstan Today reports.  “According to forecasts, in January – March of this year, gross domestic product grew by 2.9 %,” Alikhan Smailov, the chairman of the Statistics Agency -said today at a briefing.

 He said that in the first quarter, the volume of investment in fixed assets amounted to 896.3 billion tenge, which is 1.9 % more than in January – March 2013.

The volume of industrial production in the first quarter amounted to 4.5024 trillion tenge, gross output (services) of agriculture – 228.9 billion tenge.

On “transport” industry, volume index was 106.9 % , “communications” industry – 111.2 % , in the “trade” industry – 110.5 %. At the same time, retail sales for January – March amounted to 1.2076 trillion tenge (without public catering turnover) and increased by 9.7% compared to the same period last year.

As a result, short-term economic indicator in the first quarter of 2014 compared to the same period in 2013 amounted to 102.5 %. Calculation of this indicator is performed to ensure the timeliness of statistical data analysis and is based on the change in the index of manufacture basic sectors: agriculture, industry, construction, trade, transport and communication, constituting up to 68 % of GDP , according to the official site of the Prime Minister.