| Economy - overview | Kazakhstan, the largest of the former Soviet republics in territory, excluding Russia, possesses enormous fossil fuel reserves and plentiful supplies of other minerals and metals. It also has a large agricultural sector featuring livestock and grain. Kazakhstan's industrial sector rests on the extraction and processing of these natural resources and also on a growing machine-building sector specializing in construction equipment, tractors, agricultural machinery, and some defense items. The breakup of the USSR in December 1991 and the collapse in demand for Kazakhstan's traditional heavy industry products resulted in a short-term contraction of the economy, with the steepest annual decline occurring in 1994. In 1995-97, the pace of the government program of economic reform and privatization quickened, resulting in a substantial shifting of assets into the private sector. Kazakhstan enjoyed double-digit growth in 2000-01 - 8% or more per year in 2002-06 - thanks largely to its booming energy sector, but also to economic reform, good harvests, and foreign investment. The opening of the Caspian Consortium pipeline in 2001, from western Kazakhstan's Tengiz oilfield to the Black Sea, substantially raised export capacity. Kazakhstan in 2006 completed the Atasu-Alashankou portion of an oil pipeline to China that is planned to extend from the country's Caspian coast eastward to the Chinese border in future construction. The country has embarked upon an industrial policy designed to diversify the economy away from overdependence on the oil sector by developing light industry. The policy aims to reduce the influence of foreign investment and foreign personnel. The government has engaged in several disputes with foreign oil companies over the terms of production agreements; tensions continue. Upward pressure on the local currency continued in 2006 due to massive oil-related foreign-exchange inflows. Aided by strong growth and foreign exchange earnings, Kazakhstan aspires to become a regional financial center and has created a banking system comparable to those in Central Europe. |
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| GDP | 0.9% (Ministry of Defense expenditures) (FY02) |
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| GDP - real growth rate | 10.6% (2006 est.) |
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| GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: 6.3%
industry: 41.1%
services: 52.7% (2006 est.) |
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| Population below poverty line | 19% (2004 est.) |
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Household income or consumption
by percentage share | lowest 10%: 3.3%
highest 10%: 26.5% (2004 est.) |
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Distribution of family income
- Gini index | 31.5 (2003) |
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| Labor force | 7.834 million (2006 est.) |
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| Labor force - by occupation | agriculture: 20%
industry: 30%
services: 50% (2002 est.) |
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| Unemployment rate | 7.4% (2006 est.) |
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| Budget | revenues: $18.48 billion
expenditures: $18.09 billion; including capital expenditures of $NA (2006 est.) |
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| Industries | oil, coal, iron ore, manganese, chromite, lead, zinc, copper, titanium, bauxite, gold, silver, phosphates, sulfur, iron and steel; tractors and other agricultural machinery, electric motors, construction materials |
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| Industrial production growth rate | 7.7% (2006 est.) |
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Electricity -
production | 66.5 billion kWh (2006 est.) |
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Electricity -
production by source | fossil fuel: 84.3%
hydro: 15.7%
nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (2001) |
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Electricity -
consumption | 59.2 billion kWh (2006 est.) |
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Electricity -
exports | 4.9 billion kWh (2004) |
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Electricity -
imports | 4.37 billion kWh (2004) |
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| Oil - production | 1.3 million bbl/day (2005 est.) |
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| Oil - consumption | 222,000 bbl/day (2005 est.) |
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| Oil - exports | 1 million bbl/day (2005 est.) |
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| Oil - imports | 47,000 bbl/day (2003) |
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| Oil - proved reserves | 26 billion bbl (1 January 2004) |
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| Agriculture - products | grain (mostly spring wheat), cotton; livestock |
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| Exports | $35.55 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.) |
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| Exports - commodities | oil and oil products 58%, ferrous metals 24%, chemicals 5%, machinery 3%, grain, wool, meat, coal (2001) |
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| Exports - partners | Russia 12.4%, Germany 12%, China 11.2%, Italy 8.9%, France 8.6%, Romania 5.1%, US 4.5% (2005) |
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| Imports | $22 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.) |
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| Imports - commodities | machinery and equipment 41%, metal products 28%, foodstuffs 8% (2001) |
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| Imports - partners | Russia 35.7%, China 21.3%, Germany 7.1% (2005) |
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| Debt - external | $53.89 billion (30 June 2006 est.) |
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| Economic aid - recipient | $74.2 million (FY04) |
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| Currency code | KZT |
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| Exchange rates | tenge per US dollar - 126.09 (2006), 132.88 (2005), 136.04 (2004), 149.58 (2003), 153.28 (2002) |
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| Fiscal year | calendar year |
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