Kazakhstan: foreign investment on the rise after recession
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TCA
ASTANA (TCA) — According to the National Bank of Kazakhstan, after a three-year recession, in 2016, the inflow of foreign investment had grown significantly, amounting to $21 billion, which is 41.5% more than in 2015. “The growth trend remains this year. In the first half of the year, the gross inflow of foreign direct investments (FDI) amounted to $10.5 billion, an increase of 8.6% compared to the same period last year,” Deputy Chairperson of the Investment Committee of the Ministry for Investments and Development of Kazakhstan, Larisa Dzhumagaliyeva, told a press conference on December 8, the official website of the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan reported.
The greatest growth in gross inflow of FDI is demonstrated in the mining industry – 2.2-fold, manufacturing industry – 46.7%, and transport – 10.3%.
The ministry jointly with the World Bank developed and adopted the National Investment Strategy the main goal of which is to create a favorable investment climate and attract investments focused on the manufacturing sector and related services.
Dzhumagaliyeva said that priority sectors for attracting new investments can be divided into two groups. The first group includes industries with active potential, such as the food industry, deep processing of oil, gas and minerals (that is, metallurgy, chemistry and petrochemistry), and engineering.
The second group includes promising sectors, such as ICT, tourism and finance.
The Strategy also identifies priority countries for attracting investment.
“Taking into account economic opportunities, 36 potential countries of the world were identified, of which 11 countries are the top priorities for us. These are the US, Russia, the UK, Germany, France, Italy, China, Japan, South Korea, Turkey, and the UAE,” Dzhumagaliyeva said.
