NUR-SULTAN (TCA) — The Kazakh Government’s session on October 14, chaired by Prime Minister Askar Mamin, reviewed the results of the country’s economic development for January-September 2019, the prime minister’s press service reported.
It was said at the meeting that in January-September, Kazakhstan’s GDP grew 4.3% compared to the same period last year. The growth was observed in construction — 13.5%, trade — 7.6%, transport — 5.5%, manufacturing — 18.2%, light industry — 19%, metal ore mining — 16.1%, oil refining — 7.2%, and communication services — 4%.
The assets of the country’s National Fund increased by 2.4% to $59.4 billion during the period.
At the Government meeting, Minister of Agriculture Saparkhan Omarov reported on the completion of harvesting in Kazakhstan.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, in 2019, 19.1 million tons of grain has been harvested from 15.1 million hectares of land (99.2% of the total land under grain crops).
The summer season in 2019 turned out to be quite hot and arid, which caused a decrease in grain yields. As a result, a decrease in cereal production is expected compared to last year. In addition to the abnormal summer heat, during the harvesting operations there were prolonged precipitations (a total of 15-20 days), which affected both the quality of the grain and its yield.
According to preliminary estimates, in 2019 the grain crop harvest can reach almost 19 million tons in bunker weight, which is 2 million tons less than in 2018.
In the coming 2019/20 marketing year, due to a decrease in grain production, the export potential will be reduced by almost 3 million tons against the previous season.
At the same time, Minister Omarov said, the grain export strategy this season will be different from last season, when the goal was to expand export destinations.
“This season, the main task is to maintain positions in the traditional markets for the sale of Kazakh grain — to the countries of Central Asia (Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan), as well as Afghanistan and Iran,” the Minister of Agriculture explained.
