Kazakhstan Economy 2007

Economy - overview:
Kazakhstan, the largest of the former Soviet republics in territory, excluding Russia, possesses enormous fossil fuel reserves and 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 - 8% or more per year in 2002-06 - thanks largely to its booming energy sector, but also to economic reform, good harvests, and foreign investment. The opening of the Caspian Consortium pipeline in 2001, from western Kazakhstan's Tengiz oilfield to the Black Sea, substantially raised export capacity. Kazakhstan in 2006 completed the Atasu-Alashankou portion of an oil pipeline to China that is planned to extend from the country's Caspian coast eastward to the Chinese border in future construction. The country has embarked upon an industrial policy designed to diversify the economy away from overdependence on the oil sector by developing light industry. 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; tensions continue. Upward pressure on the local currency continued in 2006 due to massive oil-related foreign-exchange inflows. Aided by strong growth and foreign exchange earnings, Kazakhstan aspires to become a regional financial center and has created a banking system comparable to those in Central Europe.

GDP (purchasing power parity):
$143.4 billion (2006 est.)

GDP (official exchange rate):
$53.6 billion (2006 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
10.6% (2006 est.)

GDP - per capita (PPP):
$9,400 (2006 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 5.7%
industry: 39.8%
services: 54.4% (2006 est.)

Labor force:
8.029 million (2006 est.)

Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture: 20%
industry: 30%
services: 50% (2002 est.)

Unemployment rate:
7.4% (2006 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:
33.9 (2003)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
8.6% (2006 est.)

Investment (gross fixed):
26% of GDP (2006 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $18.66 billion
expenditures: $18.02 billion (2006 est.)

Public debt:
12.5% of GDP (2006 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:
7.7% (2006 est.)

Electricity - production:
64.23 billion kWh (2005 est.)

Electricity - consumption:
57.99 billion kWh (2005 est.)

Electricity - exports:
3.978 billion kWh (2005)

Electricity - imports:
4.552 billion kWh (2005)

Oil - production:
1.3 million bbl/day (2005 est.)

Oil - consumption:
222,000 bbl/day (2005 est.)

Oil - exports:
1 million bbl/day (2005 est.)

Oil - imports:
113,600 bbl/day (2004)

Oil - proved reserves:
9 billion bbl (1 January 2006)

Natural gas - production:
25.39 billion cu m (2005 est.)

Natural gas - consumption:
29.2 billion cu m (2005 est.)

Natural gas - exports:
7.269 billion cu m (2005 est.)

Natural gas - imports:
11.09 billion cu m (2005)

Natural gas - proved reserves:
1.765 trillion cu m (1 January 2006 est.)

Current account balance:
$-1.797 billion (2006 est.)

Exports:
$38.76 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)

Exports - commodities:
oil and oil products 58%, ferrous metals 24%, chemicals 5%, machinery 3%, grain, wool, meat, coal (2001)

Exports - partners:
Germany 12.4%, Russia 11.6%, China 11%, Italy 10.5%, France 7.5%, Romania 5% (2006)

Imports:
$24.12 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)

Imports - commodities:
machinery and equipment 41%, metal products 28%, foodstuffs 8% (2001)

Imports - partners:
Russia 36.4%, China 19.3%, Germany 7.4% (2006)

Economic aid - recipient:
$229.2 million (2005)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:
$19.13 billion (2006 est.)

Debt - external:
$73.45 billion (2006 est.)

Stock of direct foreign investment - at home:
$29.82 billion (2006 est.)

Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad:
$2.374 billion (2006 est.)

Market value of publicly traded shares:
$10.52 billion (2005)

Currency (code):
tenge (KZT)

Exchange rates:
tenge per US dollar - 126.09 (2006), 132.88 (2005), 136.04 (2004), 149.58 (2003), 153.28 (2002)