BAKU, Azerbaijan, Aug. 13
Trend:
A gradual recovery of economic activity is recorded in the real sector of Kazakhstan according to the results of the monitoring of enterprises, Trend reports citing the National Bank of Kazakhstan (NBK).
According to the NBK, the recovery was due to an increase in the utilization of production facilities, production volume, an acceleration in the turnover of assets and working capital, as well as a decrease in the negative impact of the exchange rate.
"In the second quarter of 2021, the utilization of production capacities of enterprises increased, the weighted average level of utilization was 53.5 percent (in the first quarter - 52.1 percent). As a result, production volumes increased. The diffusion index (DI) increased from 40.5 to 53.8, moving into the growing tendency," the bank stated.
"At the same time, the indicator of demand for finished products in the real sector decreased slightly - from 51.1 to 50.2. The index decreased in the sector of production of goods (from 52.1 to 51.3), services (from 50.1 to 49.1), mining (from 52.6 to 51.8), and manufacturing (from 52.5 to 51.1)," said the NBK report.
"In the second quarter of 2021, the growth rate of prices for finished products of enterprises in the economy as a whole increased - from 59.2 to 61.5. In the manufacturing and mining industries, the DI rose to 65.3 and 61.8, respectively. In the third quarter of 2021, enterprises expect a decrease in the growth rate of prices for raw materials and supplies," said the NBK.
"In the second quarter of 2021, 17.5 percent of the surveyed enterprises applied to the bank for a loan, 16.7 percent of enterprises received a loan (or 95.4 percent of the number of those who applied for a loan). The overwhelming majority (84.6 percent) attracted a loan to finance working capital (purchase of materials, raw materials, semi-finished products, etc.)," the report noted.
"According to the results of surveys in the second quarter of 2021, for 34.1 percent of enterprises, the state of the economy of Kazakhstan is an obstacle to doing business (in the first quarter, the share of such enterprises was 33.9 percent). Other major obstacles are market competition (28.9 percent), finding buyers (22.8 percent), tax burden (22.4 percent), shortage of skilled labor (18.1 percent), difficulty in recovering accounts receivable (12.2 percent). Access to finance is ranked 8th in importance (11.9 percent)," the bank said.
"The dynamics of the composite leading indicator (CLI), which is an aggregated assessment of surveys of enterprises in the real sector, shows signs of recovery in economic activity in the real sector, the CLI rose to 100.1. In the third quarter of 2021, continued growth in economic activity is expected (the CLI is expected to be 100.2)," according to the NBK report.