Kazakhstan, Astana, Aug. 18 / Trend , K.Konyrova/
The Kazakh economy is entering a recovery period, the Minister of Economy and Budget Planning, Bakhyt Sultanov, said at a government meeting on Aug. 18, the Trend correspondent reported from Astana.
"We can say with confidence that the decline in the Kazakh economy reached its lowest in the first half of 2009 and its trajectory is entering a recovery stage," said Sultanov.
He said that signs of stabilization had been primarily found in industry. The decline in production was 7.4 percent in March compared to the same period of 2008 and this figure has been replaced by a 7-percent growth in June. Positive trends continue in agriculture. Since early 2009, agricultural production has risen by 2.7 percent.
Fixed capital investment growth for the six months amounted to 7.3 percent, which was mainly ensured by an increase in investment in transport and communication (a 2.2 time increase), health and social services (by 15.5 percent). The housing market has also become active.
Sultanov said that there are signs of recovery in the global economy at the moment. However he said that despite the observed decrease in the fall rate in the second quarter, leading economic powers, such as the United States (-0.3 percent) and the European Union (-0.3 percent) were still in recession, which is reflected in the economic situation in the country.
"Therefore, in the first quarters, the main factors in the development of Kazakhstan's economy have become demand and the price of export commodities in international markets," said the Minister of Economy and Budget Planning.
However he believes that since the end of the second quarter, the anti-crisis measures together with some improvement of the world's current situation on price and demand have contributed to slowing the fall of production and in June a 1.4-percent positive growth of the economy was recorded compared to June 2008.
"I would like to note that since the beginning of the crisis, compared to other countries, Kazakhstan has not entered a stage of technical recession. We observed a decrease in production only in the first quarter of this year compared to the previous quarter, while growth was 3 percent in the second quarter compared to the first quarter," said Sultanov.
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