BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb. 16
By Nargiz Sadikhova - Trend:
The output in Kazakhstan’s main economy sectors increased year-on-year in January 2021, Trend reports citing the Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Industry and Infrastructural Development.
At the same time the number of remaining COVID-related restriction continue to negatively affect the services and transport sectors.
The manufacturing industry showed stable growth dynamics, and has grown by 3 percent since the beginning of the year. The main reasons for the growth were metallurgical production (output increased by 3.1 percent), production of non-ferrous metals (by 6.6 percent), mechanical engineering (by 16.2 percent), including the automotive industry (by 21.2 percent), as well as the chemical industry (by 12.8 percent), production of building materials (by 11.8 percent) and pharmaceuticals (by 4 percent).
Construction volumes increased by 7 percent, housing commissioning by 9.4 percent, or about 801,000 square meters. In agriculture, the production output increased by 2.5 percent.
The main factor behind the slowdown in the national economy was the mining sector due to Kazakhstan’s obligations to reduce oil production under the OPEC+ agreements. The index of the physical volume of oil production was negative 12.3 percent. At the same time, coal production is growing rapidly (increase by 10.1 percent year-on-year).
The growth of investments in fixed assets, excluding mining, amounted to 25.5 percent. In the service sector, high growth rates were achieved in the information and communications industry (by 9.4 percent)
The stability of the economy made it possible to keep the unemployment rate in the range of up to 5 percent in January.
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