At a session of the Senate of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Senate deputy Sultambek Makezhanov asked Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov questions regarding the measures taken by the Government to optimize and prioritize budget expenditures.

The Prime Minister emphasized that the level of public debt today amounts to 23.6% of GDP. According to internationally recognized methodology, such a level of public debt is considered low. For example, in many developed countries this indicator exceeds 50%, 80%, and even over 100% of GDP in certain states.

“I am not calling for such a practice. On the contrary, I believe that Kazakhstan’s public debt must be low, and the Government is working on this. Confirmation of the comfortable level of public debt is the assessment by international financial organizations, in particular the well-known rating agencies. The so-called ‘big three’ evaluate us well — these are Fitch, Moody’s, and S&P. Our country has an investment rating that is the only one in the region. In our view, this is quite a good assessment of financial stability. This, in turn, allows us to attract external borrowings on favorable terms. For example, at the end of October we issued Eurobonds at 4.4%. This is a good indicator that international investors believe in Kazakhstan and invest money at such a rate,” Olzhas Bektenov noted.

#Olzhas Bektenov #Budget

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