ASTANA (TCA) — The Government of Kazakhstan aims to increase the share of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the country’s GDP up to 50% by 2050. As of 1 September 2017, the country had 1,158,680 SMEs that employed more than 3 million people. Compared with the same period last year, there was an increase in the number of SMEs by 6.3%, the official website of the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan reports.
Excessive administration is one of the major barriers to the development of SMEs. Today, the government has taken a clear course towards reducing the control and oversight functions of government agencies.
The measures taken to reform the state control and supervision of businesses will reduce the number of inspections by 30% until 2018.
Kazakhstan has significantly improved its positions in international ratings. For example, according to the World Bank’s Doing Business rating, Kazakhstan in 2016 ranked 35th among 190 economies, increasing its rating by 16 positions. The World Bank Group noted that the reforms carried out by Kazakhstan greatly facilitate the conditions for doing business in the country.
In order to continue work in this direction, in the first quarter of 2017 a new package of legislative initiatives aimed at improving Kazakhstan’s position in the rating of ease of doing business was adopted. In particular, the amendments are aimed at protecting the rights of minority investors, simplifying procedures in the field of taxation, obtaining loans and building permits.
For the integrated support of entrepreneurship in the country there is a program of business support and business development “Business Roadmap–2020”, aimed at the development of regional private entrepreneurship and competitiveness.
To date, measures of state support have covered more than 160 thousand entrepreneurs across the country.
