ASTANA (TCA) — GDP growth in Kazakhstan in January-February 2018 was 4% against 2.5% in the same period last year. Such dynamics is due to the growth of the manufacturing industry and the services sector, Minister of National Economy, Timur Suleimenov, said at the meeting of the Government on March 13 while reporting on the results of the country’s socio-economic development for the first two months of the year, the official website of the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan reported.
Suleimenov said that investment and domestic consumption have increased during the period. Inflation slowed and since the beginning of the year amounted to 1.3%, the lowest over the recent years. In annual terms, inflation was 6.5%.
In the first two months of this year, international reserves of the country increased by 2% to $90.8 billion. Gold and forex reserves grew by 2.2% (to $31.4 billion). The assets of the National Fund increased by 1.8% (to $59.4 billion).
“The growth in industry amounted to 5.6%. The volume of production in the mining industry grew by 5.5%,” Suleimenov said.
The manufacturing industry showed an increase of 6.1%.
Also, according to the Minister, there was 3.3% growth in agriculture due to the increase in livestock production by 3.4%. The construction sector saw a reduction of 4.5%. Trade grew by 7%.
At the meeting, Chairman of the National Bank, Daniyar Akishev, said that in January-February of 2018, the national currency, the tenge, strengthened by 3.6% to 320.30 tenge per US dollar. Bank deposits in foreign currency decreased by 6.9% and deposits in tenge increased by 2.1%. As a result, the share of deposits in foreign currency decreased to 45.4%.
