BAKU, Azerbaijan, Mar. 31
By Nargiz Sadikhova - Trend:
Kazakhstan’s economic activity will remain under the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic, Trend reports citing the Macroeconomic forecast of Eurasian Development Bank (EDB).
The EBD said that the mass vaccination against COVID-19, funded from the state budget, started on February 1, 2021 in Kazakhstan. The vaccination expected to go on until the end of the year and will cover about a third of the population of Kazakhstan. The baseline scenario of the forecast assumes a gradual relaxation of sanitary requirements at home and abroad.
“This will help restore global supply chains, external and internal demand. Fiscal consolidation is expected over the medium term. According to the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On the Republican Budget for 2021–2023", the state budget deficit is to be reduced from 3.4 percent of GDP in 2021 to 2.1 percent in 2023. Incentives will gradually be phased out as the economy recovers.
The Kazakhstan’s inflation target is expected to decrease, the EDB said.
“Based on the statements of the National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the medium-term forecasts of the Ministry of National Economy of Kazakhstan, we assume that the inflation target can be set within 4–6 percent corridor for the period from 2021 through 2022. In the next two years, the corridor will be narrowed to 4–5 percent, which will require additional efforts from the monetary authorities to keep the annual index of consumer prices dynamics within the given parameters,” the Bank said.
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