Economy - overview:
Kazakhstan, the largest of the former Soviet republics in territory, excluding Russia, possesses enormous fossil fuel reserves as well as plentiful supplies of other minerals and metals. It also has a large agricultural sector featuring livestock and grain. Kazakhstan's industrial sector rests on the extraction and processing of these natural resources and also on a growing machine-building sector specializing in construction equipment, tractors, agricultural machinery, and some defense items. The breakup of the USSR in December 1991 and the collapse in demand for Kazakhstan's traditional heavy industry products resulted in a short-term contraction of the economy, with the steepest annual decline occurring in 1994. In 1995-97, the pace of the government program of economic reform and privatization quickened, resulting in a substantial shifting of assets into the private sector. Kazakhstan enjoyed double-digit growth in 2000-01 - and a solid 9.5% in 2002 - thanks largely to its booming energy sector, but also to economic reform, good harvests, and foreign investment. Growth remained at the high 9% level in 2003 and 2004. The opening of the Caspian Consortium pipeline in 2001, from western Kazakhstan's Tengiz oilfield to the Black Sea, substantially raised export capacity. The country has embarked upon an industrial policy designed to diversify the economy away from overdependence on the oil sector, by developing light industry. Additionally, the policy aims to reduce the influence of foreign investment and foreign personnel; the government has engaged in several disputes with foreign oil companies over the terms of production agreements, and tensions continue.
GDP:
purchasing power parity - $118.4 billion (2004 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
9.1% (2004 est.)
GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $7,800 (2004 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 7.4%
industry: 37.8%
services: 54.8% (2004 est.)
Labor force:
7.95 million (2004 est.)
Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture 20%, industry 30%, services 50% (2002 est.)
Unemployment rate:
8% (2004 est.)
Population below poverty line:
19% (2004 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 3.3%
highest 10%: 26.5% (2004 est.)
Distribution of family income - Gini index:
31.5 (2003)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
6.9% (2004 est.)
Investment (gross fixed):
23.9% of GDP (2004 est.)
Budget:
revenues: $8.67 billion
expenditures: $8.968 billion, including capital expenditures of NA (2004 est.)
Public debt:
13.7% of GDP (2004 est.)
Agriculture - products:
grain (mostly spring wheat), cotton; livestock
Industries:
oil, coal, iron ore, manganese, chromite, lead, zinc, copper, titanium, bauxite, gold, silver, phosphates, sulfur, iron and steel; tractors and other agricultural machinery, electric motors, construction materials
Industrial production growth rate:
10.6% (2004 est.)
Electricity - production:
66.82 billion kWh (2003)
Electricity - consumption:
62.21 billion kWh (203)
Electricity - exports:
4.975 billion kWh (2003)
Electricity - imports:
2.506 billion kWh (2003)
Oil - production:
1.2 million bbl/day (2004 est.)
Oil - consumption:
189,400 bbl/day (2003 est.)
Oil - exports:
890,000 bbl/day (2003)
Oil - imports:
47,000 bbl/day (2003)
Oil - proved reserves:
26 billion bbl (1 January 2004)
Natural gas - production:
11.6 billion cu m (2004 est.)
Natural gas - consumption:
14.3 billion cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - exports:
11.01 billion cu m (2003 est.)
Natural gas - imports:
8.696 billion cu m (2003 est.)
Natural gas - proved reserves:
1.8 trillion cu m (1 January 2004)
Current account balance:
$-39.02 million (2004 est.)
Exports:
$18.47 billion f.o.b. (2004 est.)
Exports - commodities:
oil and oil products 58%, ferrous metals 24%, chemicals 5%, machinery 3%, grain, wool, meat, coal (2001)
Exports - partners:
Russia 13.5%, Bermuda 13.4%, China 10.4%, Germany 9.2%, Switzerland 9.1%, France 6.7% (2004)
Imports:
$13.07 billion f.o.b. (2004 est.)
Imports - commodities:
machinery and equipment 41%, metal products 28%, foodstuffs 8% (2001)
Imports - partners:
Russia 33.9%, China 13.6%, Germany 9.6%, France 6.8% (2004)
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:
$14.35 billion (2004 est.)
Debt - external:
$26.03 billion (2004 est.)
Economic aid - recipient:
$74.2 million in US assistance programs, 1992-2000 (FY2004)
Currency (code):
tenge (KZT)
Exchange rates:
tenge per US dollar - 136.04 (2004), 149.58 (2003), 153.28 (2002), 146.74 (2001), 142.13 (2000)
Fiscal year:
calendar year
