Kazakhstan adopts financial incentives for foreign investors
Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct. 5 /Trend, A.Badalova/
Kazakhstan needs investments today, and the government's decision to adopt financial incentives is a good idea in order to attract additional finance to the country, Kazakh Risk Assessment Group Director Dosym Satpayev believes.
"It is a good idea, the country needs investments," he told Trend on Wednesday.
Kazakhstan is planning financial incentives and state support to attract investors to non-raw material sectors, according to a senior government official who said the country could attract extra $10 billion in foreign investment each year.
Prime Minister Karim Masimov said the government has two weeks to prepare detailed proposals to back the plans.
According to Satpayev, Kazakhstan got much investment from Kashagan field in the past.
"Today capital investments decreased. And the government is seeking for the alternative sources of investments to the country's economy", he said.
Kazakhstan, as Central Asia's largest economy, has attracted around $120 billion in foreign direct investment, mainly to its booming oil and gas sector, since independence in 1991.
Satpayev said that the effectiveness of the measures can be assessed after certain period.
Satpayev believes Kazakhstan's major advantage for investments is its geographical closeness to China.
"This is certainly an interesting development, and managed to correctly present the exciting opportunity for foreign investors interested in the non-energy sphere in the CIS," the analyst at Economist Intelligence Unit in London Alice Mummery told Trend.
Kazakhstan's gross domestic product grew by 7.3 percent last year after a 1.2-percent rise in 2010.
Earlier Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakstan Aset Isekeshev said that Russia, Ukraine and Azerbaijan were Kazakhstan's main rivals in the fight for foreign direct investment.
To win this fight, Kazakhstan was ready to provide substantial financial incentives to investors willing to invest in non-raw material projects -- primarily in processing industries -- which are worth over $50 million, he said.
E.Ostapenko contributed to article
