Today during the meeting of the Government chaired by the Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev, the process of privatization in Kazakhstan was reviewed. The reports were made by the Minister of National Economy Timur Suleimenov and the Minister of Finance Bakhyt Sultanov.

The Head of State, in the framework of his annual Address to the People of Kazakhstan, "New Development Opportunities in the Conditions of the Fourth Industrial Revolution", instructed to accelerate the implementation of the privatization plan, expanding it by reducing the number of subordinate organizations of state bodies, and, if possible, to consolidate subordinate organizations of state bodies to reduce administrative expenses.

"To date, the Complex Privatization Plan for 2016-2020 covers 904 facilities. Full information about 876 objects is published on the website gosreestr.kz. This list does not include 28 objects of republican ownership that are being reorganized and re-registered," said Bakhyt Sultanov.

For two years, 476 of the Complex Plan objects were put up for sale, of which 367 were sold for a total of 164 billion tenge. As of January 1, 2018, 255 facilities are in the process of liquidation and reorganization.

According to the Minister of Finance, in general, the implementation of the Comprehensive Privatization Plan is 71%.

In 2017 it was planned to sell 463 objects. The plan was executed at 97%: 289 objects were put up, 190 of them were sold, 162 - liquidated and reorganized, 12 - transferred to 2018 due to encumbrances.

"The analysis carried out by the Ministry shows the acceleration of the rates of putting up the objects for sale. So, in 2017, the exposition rate by 15% exceeded the same indicator for the previous period. The price of the realized objects is 8% higher than their book value. As before, the auction and tender remain the main way of realization - 73%," the Minister of Finance said.

Bakhyt Sultanov also noted that interest in the ongoing privatization has significantly increased. The number of active visitors to the trading floor increased by 12%. In addition, competitiveness at the auction increased - the average number of participants in one trade is about 4-5, whereas previously there were no more than 3 of them.

Minister of National Economy Timur Suleimenov noted that the issues of privatization of large objects of state property and assets of the Samruk-Kazyna Fund are regularly considered at the meetings of the State Commission for Modernization of the Economy.

Based on the recommendation of the State Commission, the list of organizations subject to privatization was updated by eliminating five state property organizations and one facility of the Baiterek holding company. Now, a corresponding draft resolution of the Government has been developed, which is being approved by the state bodies.

"In order to fulfill the instructions of the Head of State, the MNE RK is creating a working group with the participation of all interested parties to carry out a full inventory of subordinate organizations of state bodies. Thus, further work on updating the List of objects subject to privatization will be carried out within the framework of instructions of the Head of State," said Timur Suleimenov.

Nurlan Rakhmetov, the managing director of Samruk-Kazyna SWF, and Galymzhan Tadzhiyakov, the deputy chairman of the Baiterek NMH, and Nurlybek Malelov, the chairman of the board of the Kazagro NMH, also made comments on the privatization process.

Following the discussion Bakytzhan Sagintayev reminded the heads of state bodies and holdings about the need to adhere to the schedule of sales of objects and instructed to ensure its implementation on time. As noted by the Prime Minister, the order of the Head of State on privatization should be completed by the end of 2018. No arguments will be accepted. Bakytzhan Sagintayev instructed to review the progress of privatization on a quarterly basis, indicating exactly who is performing and who is behind.

Deputy Prime Minister Erbolat Dossaev is responsible for monitoring the execution of instructions.