The Minister of National Economy of Kazakhstan, Timur Suleimenov, reported on October 17 on the economic situation in the country.
“Since the start of the year, the economic activity has improved. The GDP growth for 9 months of this year has amounted to 4.3%,” he said, making a speech at the government meeting.
According to him, the average exchange rate was equal to KZT 323.2 per US dollar for this period, KZT 341.1 per dollar since the beginning of October, while crude oil prices remained at $52 per barrel.
However, as Timur Suleimenov noted, at year-end the economy was expected to grow at 3.4%. Such figures are attributed to a high economic growth (2.5%) in Q4 2016, whereas in January-September last year the economy grew by 0.4%.
The Minister of National Economy said that in 2017 the nominal GDP was projected to be KZT 51,855.3 billion, up by KZT 2,114.7 billion from the figure approved in February. GDP per capita will rise to $8,700.
“The updated forecast is based on the reporting data on GDP for 2016, the tenge reference exchange rate against the US dollar kept at KZT 330.0, and the world oil price kept at $50,” Suleimenov added. (Kazinform/Business World Magazine)