The government of Kazakhstan plans to double the size of the national economy to $450 billion by 2029. This goal was disclosed by Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov during a meeting of the Foreign Investors Council (FIC).
What did the prime minister say? According to the press service of the prime minister, the government is going to attract at least $150 billion in foreign investments by 2029.
«We are inviting our foreign partners to invest in projects in Kazakhstan,» Smailov said.
As the press service reported, the meeting included representatives of companies such as Ernst & Young, TotalEnergies, Knauf, KPMG, Coca-Cola Içecek Kazakhstan, Microsoft, Baker & McKenzie, Cameco Kazakhstan, Chevron Corporation, Deloitte, Exxon Mobil, Glencore and Marubeni, among others.
What is the government going to do?
«The government is aimed at increasing the number of investments, transfer of advanced technologies, localization of manufacturing and creation of clusters with high level of reprocessing. The key effort will be focused on the development of the processing sector,» the prime minister said.
The FIC currently includes executive managers from 33 big transnational foreign companies and international organizations plus nine foreign observers.
In August 2023, analysts from the National Bank stated that the Kazakhstani cabinet had used an incorrect indicator to assess the efficiency of attracting foreign direct investments (FDI).
How many investments did Kazakhstan attract last year? In 2022, the gross inflow of FDI in Kazakhstan reached $28 billion, an 18% increase over 2021. Moreover, it was a 17% increase over the initial plan as the country’s investment concept was aimed at $24 billion in FDI last year.
The mining industry and quarrying accounted for the lion’s share of this $28 billion in FDI ($12.2 billion or +25% year-on-year), followed by the processing industry – $5.6 billion (+3%), trade – $5.1 billion (+36%), scientific activities – $1.2 billion (+118%) and transportation – $1.2 billion (+14%).
The top five investors in Kazakhstan last year were the Netherlands – $8.3 billion (+20%), the United States – $5.1 billion (+82%), Switzerland – $2.8 billion (+2%), Belgium $1.6 billion (+46%) and Russia – $1.5 billion (-20%).
