The Minister of Economy and Budget Planning, Yerbolat Dossayev, reported to the government this week that Kazakhstan's GDP rose by 5% in the five months from January to May 2013, Kazakh Foreign Ministry press release says. This represents a small but significant increase on the same period in 2012, of 0.1%. But taking into account the poor performance of agriculture in 2012 and the meeting of planned production targets in the natural resources sector, the Ministry is forecasting 6% GDP growth for the year.
There have been rises this year in the performance of many sectors of the economy. Industry is up to 101.8%; agriculture to 101.1%; trade, 112.8%; transport, 107% and communications, 115%. One area which has fallen compared to 2012 is construction, showing only 99% of last year's figure. Capital investment is at 108.3%; and the consumer price index 102.3% compared to last year.