Economy - overview:
Kazakhstan, the largest of the former Soviet republics in
territory, excluding Russia, possesses enormous fossil fuel reserves
as well as plentiful supplies of other minerals and metals. It also
is a large agricultural - livestock and grain - producer.
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 - and a solid 9.5% in 2002 -
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. The country has embarked upon an industrial policy
designed to diversify the economy away from overdependence on the
oil sector, by developing light industry. Additionally, 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, and
tensions continue.
GDP:
purchasing power parity - $120 billion (2002 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
9.5% (2002 est.)
GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $7,200 (2002 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 9%
industry: 40%
services: 51% (2002 est.)
Population below poverty line:
26% (2001 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 2.8%
highest 10%: 27.3% (2001)
Distribution of family income - Gini index:
35.4 (1996)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
6% (2002 est.)
Labor force:
8.4 million (1999)
Labor force - by occupation:
industry 30%, agriculture 20%, services 50% (2002 est.)
Unemployment rate:
8.8% (2002 est.)
Budget:
revenues: $4.2 billion
expenditures: $5.1 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA
(2001 est.)
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
Industrial production growth rate:
10% (2002 est.)
Electricity - production:
52.43 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 84.3%
hydro: 15.7%
other: 0% (2001)
nuclear: 0%
Electricity - consumption:
48.36 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - exports:
3.6 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - imports:
3.2 billion kWh (2001)
Oil - production:
798,200 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - consumption:
195,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - exports:
NA (2001)
Oil - imports:
NA (2001)
Oil - proved reserves:
2.709 billion bbl (37257)
Natural gas - production:
10.08 billion cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - consumption:
14.3 billion cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - exports:
4.1 billion cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - imports:
8.3 billion cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - proved reserves:
920.3 billion cu m (37257)
Agriculture - products:
grain (mostly spring wheat), cotton; livestock
Exports:
$10.3 billion f.o.b. (2002 est.)
Exports - commodities:
oil and oil products 58%, ferrous metals 24%, chemicals 5%,
machinery 3%, grain, wool, meat, coal (2001)
Exports - partners:
Russia 16.2%, Bermuda 12.1%, China 11.3%, Germany 8.8%, Italy 5.5%,
Ukraine 4.9%, France 4% (2002)
Imports:
$9.6 billion f.o.b. (2002 est.)
Imports - commodities:
machinery and equipment 41%, metal products 28%, foodstuffs 8%
(2001)
Imports - partners:
Russia 37.1%, US 9.3%, China 9.3%, Germany 9.1% (2002)
Debt - external:
$6.6 billion (2002 est.)
Economic aid - recipient:
$610 million in US assistance programs, 1992-2000
Currency:
tenge (KZT)
Currency code:
KZT
Exchange rates:
tenge per US dollar - 153.28 (2002), 146.74 (2001), 142.13 (2000),
119.52 (1999), 78.3 (1998)
Fiscal year:
calendar year