ASTANA (TCA) — Foreigners are actively investing in the Kazakh economy with a 25-percent on-year growth in January-July of this year. The share of foreign investment in the total investments in Kazakhstan remains stable and significant, staying within the range of 20-50 percent of the total over the past 2.5 years, Ranking.kz reported.
The Kazakh economy attracted more than KZT 1.3 trillion in foreign investment, up 25 percent on-year, in January-July 2016. In July alone, KZT 181 billion was injected into the economy (up 5.3 percent on-year). However, foreign investments accounted for only 28 percent of the total investments in fixed capital. The highest share of foreign investments since 2014 was in January 2015 (46.8 percent).
The main target for investment chosen by foreigners was the oil and gas industry, which could be seen from the geographical distribution of foreign investments. More than 50 percent of all investments in Kazakhstan were made in the Atyrau Region in January-July 2016. Moreover, the Atyrau Region is one of four regions where the share of foreign investments exceeds 50 percent of the total investments. A higher figure is only in the West Kazakhstan Region bordering Russia.
The least attractive to foreign investors are two other border regions of Kazakhstan – the Kostanai Region and North Kazakhstan Region, with foreign investments accounting for less than 0.5 percent of the total investments in these regions.
