Kazakh Economy Grows 9.2% in 2003, Foreign Trade Grows 31%

Kazakhstan's economy grew 9.2 percent in 2003 over 2002, while all other major economic indices demonstrated solid growth and inflation held steady at 6.4 percent, the Kazakhstan Agency on Statistics announced February 13.

WASHINGTON (PRWEB) February 24, 2004 --Kazakhstan's economy grew 9.2 percent in 2003 over 2002, while all other major economic indices demonstrated solid growth and inflation held steady at 6.4 percent, the Kazakhstan Agency on Statistics announced February 13.

The GDP growth was sustained by 8.8 percent increase in industrial production, 12.4 percent growth in construction, and a strong showing by the services sector with growth levels of 7.8 %, 24.8 %, and 10 % in transportation, communications and trade respectively. Capital investment increased by 17.2 percent.

Industry remains the largest contributor of the gross domestic product, accounting for 29.5 percent. Production of goods contributes 43 percent of the GDP, while services account for 51.5 percent.

Sustainable GDP growth over the past five years averaged as much as 10 percent per year, and led to the situation where Kazakhstan's GDP indexes exceeded those of 1991, the last year Kazakhstan was part of the USSR 6.3 percent. Such comparisons must take into account the different structure of the growing economy in Kazakhstan today as versus the economy under Soviet rule.

Average wage grew in December 2003 by 15.6 percent over the same figure for December 2002 and amounted to 28,192 Tenge (US$1 = 139 Tenge as of February 19). With inflation taken into account, real wages grew 8.3 percent compared to December 2002.

At year's end, unemployment stood at 670,000, or 8.8 percent of the economically active population.