ASTANA (TCA) — The Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Board of Directors has endorsed a new country partnership strategy (CPS) for Kazakhstan, expected to deliver more than $3 billion in assistance through 2021 to help the country diversify its economy, achieve inclusive development, and promote sustainable growth, ADB’s country office said on September 18.
“Kazakhstan is poised to overcome global economic challenges and be more resilient to external shocks and diversified,” said Giovanni Capannelli, ADB Country Director for Kazakhstan. “Fulfilling the country’s potential to become a high-income country will require substantial knowledge contributions and financial resources. ADB stands together with the government and the people of Kazakhstan to help the country develop new and better ways to address persisting development challenges, towards a more socially inclusive and greener growth, reflecting the Sustainable Development Goals and targets agreed in the Paris Agreement.”
The ADB strategy covers assistance over a 5-year period to the largest economy in Central Asia. The new CPS is aligned with the national medium-term development strategy, known as the Third Modernization of Kazakhstan. ADB’s operations will focus on promoting key factors that will significantly help the country’s economic and social advancement, including developing infrastructure, strengthening governance and institutions, delivering public services, creating jobs, protecting the environment, and promoting technological innovation.
ADB will engage with the government through three main pillars:
– Strengthening the foundations for economic diversification by easing access to finance and promoting private sector development;
– Sustaining inclusive development and reducing inequality by addressing infrastructure bottlenecks and supporting service delivery; and
– Fostering sustainable, green growth in response to climate change by promoting energy efficiency and renewables, and supporting climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts.
In addition, the CPS calls for cross-sectoral engagements that leverage private sector investment and public-private partnerships, promote regional cooperation and integration, and enhance gender equality.
Support for Kazakhstan’s agriculture sector and promoting agribusiness is a key priority under ADB’s new strategy. The Bank will support government efforts to help transform the sector into an engine of growth for Kazakhstan’s economy.
ADB will remain committed to strengthening its knowledge partnerships in Kazakhstan, including through the creation of applied knowledge centers, which will support economic research, capacity building, and policy dialogue across different sectors.
ADB will promote active engagement with state-owned enterprises and innovative financing, which reflects Kazakhstan’s reform-driven economic agenda and increased demand for nonsovereign operations. Blended finance between sovereign and nonsovereign operations will enable Kazakhstan to strengthen its fiscal policy and debt management, including through public-private partnerships.
Since joining ADB in 1994, Kazakhstan has received about $5 billion in sovereign and nonsovereign loans for agriculture and irrigation, education, finance, transport, energy, water supply, and sanitation.
