Baku, Azerbaijan, September 18
By Nargiz Sadikhova - Trend:
Kazakhstan has the potential to become one of the world’s top 30 economies, the spokesperson for the World Bank told Trend.
“To achieve that, economic growth must be stronger, sustainable and inclusive, supported by a dynamic private sector, flourishing banks, and a strong and publicly accountable institutions. Kazakhstan needs structural reforms that boost the dynamism of the private sector, diversify the economy, provide equal access to high quality public services (education, health), and sustain the growth of the middle class,” the spokesperson said.
According to the spokesperson, in this regard, the Systematic Country Diagnostic (SCD) for Kazakhstan highlights key policy reform areas which Kazakhstan could consider.
“First, adopting sound fiscal policy and financial reforms to support diversification, including sound macro-fiscal management, better use of fiscal resources, and making the financial sector “fit for purpose” to promote inclusive growth. Second is reducing the state presence in the economy and supporting SME growth, which means opening-up sectors for more competition, better regulations to attract FDI, and an improved business environment for SME to grow,” the spokesperson clarified.
The spokesperson further noted that Kazakhstan is a large country and it can strengthen regions’ economies inside the country via better infrastructure, including in urban areas, developing agriculture value chains, and promoting internal mobility of workers.
“Kazakhstan should develop an equal access to high quality education and enhance social protection for poor and vulnerable families. All of these require an effective, responsive, accountable and transparent public sector. Therefore, the SCD also recommends Kazakhstan to strengthen the public sector through a wide-range of actions, including reducing corruption/rent seeking, reinforcing feedback from citizens, and capacity to monitor progress against clear objectives,” the spokesperson concluded.
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