WEEKLY REVIEW: This year world economy volatility to manipulate Kazakhstan less than in 2012
On Monday, March 11 Minister of Defense of Kazakhstan Adilbek Dzhaksybekov received Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Great Britain to Kazakhstan Caroline Brown, the Ministry's press service informs.
Head of the Kazakh Ministry of Defense congratulated Caroline Brown with her appointment to the diplomatic mission in Kazakhstan and wished fruitful and successive work including bilateral cooperation in the sphere of defense.
Current situation and prospects of development of Kazakh-British military cooperation, in particular the withdrawal of NATO troops out of Afghanistan and of its military involvement in UN peacekeeping missions were touched upon at the meeting.
"As part of strengthening stability and security in the world, Kazakhstan has good intentions to send their peacekeeping unit in one of the missions of the United Nations. In this regard, the Ministry of Defense is preparing Kazakh peacekeeping unit and is working on the legal framework for citizen participation in the UN missions in Kazakhstan," A. Dzhaksybekov said.
C. Brown stressed that Britain appreciated the combat readiness of the Armed Forces of Kazakhstan and would have full support with possible participation in peacekeeping operations.The minister thanked the British soldiers who participated in the peacekeeping exercise "Steppe Eagle 2012".
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Serik Akhmetov instructed to verify whether the inspection of small and medium business by supervisory government bodies was legitimate.
"The Ministry for Regional Development in coordination with the National Economic Chamber "Atameken "Union" will review the results of the year 2012 and 1Q of 2013. It is necessary to inspect the legitimacy, frequency and consistency of inspections carried out by the supervisory government bodies, including law-enforcement agencies," Prime Minister Akhmetov told at the government session on March 12.
First Vice Minister for Regional Development Kairbek Uskenbayev, in turn, informed of a working group formed by the ministry in order to analyze all licenses issued in Kazakhstan. "260 out of 800 licenses have already been analyzed; the rest will be reviewed shortly," Mr. Uskenbayev added.
On March 13, The Government of Kazakhstan and National Bank of Kazakhstan adopted a joint statement on main aspects of the economic policy for 2013.
Economic policy pursued by the Government of Kazakhstan (hereinafter "Government") and National Bank of Kazakhstan (hereinafter "National Bank") in 2012 allowed to ensure positive dynamics of economic development and preserve macroeconomic and social stability in the country despite negative influence of the global economic situation.
According to preliminary estimates, real GDP growth in 2012 was 5.0%, industrial output increased by 0.5%.
Positive dynamics in the economy sectors and high consumer demand contributed to the growth of services sector by 10%. The rate of inflation in annual terms was 6.0%, which is 1.4 percentage points lower than in 2011. The country's international reserves have increased by 17.9% to USD 86.0 billion, including assets of the National Fund in foreign currency that increased by 32.4% to USD 57.8 billion. The banking sector shows signs of stable recovery. Over the past year, the banks' assets grew by 8.2%, the volume of loans increased by 13.0%, deposits grew by 7.2%. In 2012, Fitch Agency upgraded Kazakhstan's sovereign credit rating to BBB+, which amid crisis in Western countries indicates creditworthiness of our country. The national budget deficit totaled KZT 906.5 billion or 3% of GDP. The foreign trade turnover increased by 9.8%.
On Thursday Prime Minister Serik Akhmetov visited the headquarters of DAMU Fund.
Serik Akhmetov then had a look at the implementation of "Business Road Map-2020" Program. It provides such tools to support entrepreneurs as part of the remuneration subsidies and guarantees for loans obtained from commercial banks, free training in the basics and best practices of business development, the creation of centers of competence of entrepreneurs on three levels.
In addition, the Premier was told about "Business Advisor" free courses, teaching the basics of creating and running a business, which are held in all regional centers of Kazakhstan twice a year.
Thursday afternoon, Akhmetov held a meeting with heads of central and local executive bodies to discuss the issues of Almaty socio-economic development, Kazinform refers to prime minister's press service.
The heads of the state bodies reported on the progress of implementation of projects on Almaty transport infrastructure development, projects of the state program of forced industrial innovative development, on construction of an underground railroad, anti-mudflow structures. They also informed of the construction of sports facilities for 2017 Winter Universiade.
The head of the Government instructed the ministries of oil and gas, economy and budget planning, Agency for Natural Monopolies Regulation "to submit to the Government a proposal on preservation of the existing gas tariff for motor transport for a five-year period until 2018."
During his working trip to Almaty, the Prime Minister also visited "Aigerim" apartment building to review the mechanism of housing construction under the program of Housing Construction Savings Bank. Serik Akhmetov was informed of the results of realization of the state programs "Affordable Housing-2020" and "Housing and Utilities Infrastructure Modernization". The Premier finished his working trip with a visit to the construction site of the Republican Olympic Training Base.
On Friday, First Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Regional Development of Kazakhstan Bakytzhan Sagintayev has come to West Kazakhstan region on a working visit.
According to the press service of the regional Governor, B. Sagintayev is going to check out the construction of apartment houses in Zachagan village which is related to Uralsk. He will also see the preparation for spring flooding in the region and will visit a number of social and industrial facilities.
At the meeting in the regional administration which will be participated by B.Sagintayev under consideration will be the preparations for the flood, the prospects of the development of transport infrastructure and other important issues.