Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Alikhan Smailov spoke about the implementation of a number of significant measures in the economy, public sector and social sphere in the framework of implementation of the messages of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

During his speech at the enlarged meeting of the faction of the AMANAT party, he noted that in order to strengthen the saving function of the National Fund, new rules were introduced to limit the withdrawal of transfers and the growth of budget expenditures.

"This is especially relevant in connection with the implementation of the initiative of the Head of State "National Fund for Children" from January 1, 2024. This project will cover 6.7 million children, who will be able to use the accumulated funds upon reaching the age of 18 for education or purchase of housing," Alikhan Smailov said.

According to him, over the past 4 years, 4.7 trillion tenge has been redirected to priority tasks due to the revision and optimization of budget expenditures. In addition, due to improvement of tax and customs administration and digitalization for the same period, the republican budget received additional more than 2 trillion tenge.

Prime Minister reminded that this year the law on bankruptcy of individuals has worked.

"To date, more than 10 thousand citizens have used the procedure of extrajudicial bankruptcy. This has allowed to reduce their debt burden," he said.

Head of the Government emphasized that in order to strengthen the work on the return of illegally acquired assets to the state, the relevant law has been adopted. At the same time, as a result of the work of the Commission on Demonopolization, blocks of shares and participatory interests in 16 companies, 7 buildings, 160 railway tracks and facilities, as well as funds have been returned to state ownership.

"In general, the measures taken to counteract the shadow economy allowed to reduce it from 27% to 19% of GDP over the past 4 years," Alikhan Smailov said.

The Prime Minister said that in order to form a new investment cycle, the Concept of Investment Policy until 2026 is being implemented.

Under investment contracts, companies working in priority sectors receive exemption from taxes and customs duties, full grants.

In order to attract large investors, it is possible to conclude an Investment Agreement with the provision of any of the existing state support measures on individual terms. At the same time, counter obligations for the investor are established.

The possibility of concluding an Agreement on Investment Obligations, which guarantees the stability of tax legislation, has also been introduced.

In order to attract additional investment in the oil and gas sector, fiscal incentives for the conclusion of an Improved Model Contract have been introduced from 2023.

As part of the work on the re-location of a number of foreign enterprises in Kazakhstan to date 35 large foreign companies have moved to the country, further work is being done in this direction.

"Thanks to the measures taken in 2022 attracted a record for 10 years of foreign direct investment in the amount of $ 28 billion. In general, for 2019-2022, investments in fixed capital increased by 35% and amounted to 15.1 trillion tenge," Alikhan Smailov said.

Prime Minister emphasized that despite the consequences of the pandemic and difficult geopolitical conditions, thanks to the measures taken, the country's economy is showing strong growth. In particular, at the end of 7 months of this year it amounted to 4.8%. Positive dynamics is noted in all major sectors.

This year GDP per capita has grown to 13.3 thousand dollars, and foreign trade turnover has increased to 140 billion dollars. The country's international reserves today amount to almost 95 billion dollars.

"The instructions of the Head of State, voiced in previous messages, have been generally fulfilled. The realization of systemic, long-term instructions continues. In general, a large-scale systemic work aimed at improving the welfare of the population has been carried out. The Government together with the Parliament will continue to work on realization of the set tasks," Alikhan Smailov concluded.

#Alikhan Smailov #The Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan