Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 21
By Rashid Shirinov – Trend:
Akhmetzhan Yessimov, CEO of Kazakhstan’s National Welfare Fund Samruk-Kazyna, has summed up the results of the Fund’s activity in 2018, Trend reports referring to the Kazakh media.
“Last year, big projects significant for the country were started and completed. As part of the implementation of the Five Social Initiatives of the President of Kazakhstan, the construction of the Saryarka gas pipeline, which will serve 171 settlements with a population of 1.7 million people, began. Also, 75 percent of Kcell [cellular communications operator] shares were acquired,” Yessimov said.
He also pointed to completion of the modernization at three major refineries.
“This allowed fully meeting the demand of the domestic market for high-quality products of Euro 4 and Euro 5 standards. Also, the Kuryk port was commissioned, and such strategic partners and investors as Xiamen, Borealis and Norinco were attracted,” Yessimov added.
He also noted that in 2018, the external debt of Samruk-Kazyna decreased by $3.2 billion, from $18.5 billion to $15.3 billion. KazMunaiGas and Samruk-Energy were removed from the red zone of financial risk. The funds received from the privatization of Samruk-Kazyna’s assets amounted to more than 230 billion tenge.
(1 USD = 378.66 KZT on Jan. 21)
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