NUR-SULTAN: The gross foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows to Kazakhstan totaled $3.6 billion in the first quarter of 2020, the Finprom financial and business analytical service reported. The largest investors were the Netherlands ($988.3 million), the United States ($744.9 million), and Russia ($379.9 million).
The quarantine measures implemented to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 have harmed the global economy at the end of the second quarter. Despite the global crisis, Kazakhstan maintains a low level of public debt and a significant amount of fiscal reserves, sufficient to cushion external shocks. Moody’s, FitchRatings, and Standard and Poors credit rating agencies confirmed Kazakhstan’s stable rating for international investments.
The Kazakh Ministry of National Economy forecast that the real growth of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) will be 2.8 percent in 2021, and 4.6 percent in 2025.
Over the past years, Kazakhstan has created a favorable investment climate by simplifying the tax regime, constantly improving national legislation, and expanding the package of investment preferences for companies. The country has guaranteed the stability of tax legislation for investors implementing projects in priority sectors.
While the world had seen a decrease in investment in 2018 and 2019, Kazakhstan’s gross inflow of FDI increased 15.8 percent per year in 2018 and remained at the level of $24 billion from 2019.
Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in his Sept. 1 state-of-the-nation address stressed the need to use the potential of the Astana International Financial Center (AIFC) to further develop the economy.
“The government should continue to support the activities of the AIFC, which, in essence, has acquired constitutional status. The AIFC could become a platform for the development of the latest digital technologies together with Nazarbayev University,” the President said.–Agencies
