BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 22
Trend:
Minister of Trade and Integration of Kazakhstan Bakhyt Sultanov spoke about the anti-crisis measures taken by the government, Trend reports via Kazakh media.
“The anti-crisis measures taken in 2020 to support the business made it possible to largely prevent the decline in the trade sector. So, for example, in 2020, for the period of an emergency in the country, the regional akimats (Mayor’s Offices) carried out work with 473 shopping centers and 337 markets for the release and reduction of rent for small and micro-businesses,” Bakhyt Sultanov said.
According to Sultanov, despite the coronavirus-related quarantine and restrictive measures, in 2020 it was possible to attract investments in trade totaling 181.7 billion tenge ($424.9 million).
"Since the beginning of 2021, we have seen a significant revival of investment activity. For the first 5 months of this year, investments in trade reached 20.1 percent more compared to the same period of 2020 and exceeded the level of 2019," the minister said.
He stressed that the trade sector plays an important role in providing employment for the population, adding that the recovery in industry activity led to an increase in the number of employees.
"In the first quarter of 2021 alone, the number of employees increased by 20,800 people compared to the first quarter of 2020, and by 57,300 people as compared to the first quarter of 2019. Currently, almost 1.5 million people work in the trade sector, which is 16.6 percent of the total employed population in the country", added Sultanov.