Today at the Government meeting chaired by the Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev, First Vice Minister of Agriculture, Arman Evniev reported on the ongoing work to attract investment in the agro-industrial complex of Kazakhstan.

As noted by Arman Evniev, in 2017 the volume of investments in the fixed capital of agriculture amounted to about 352 billion tenge, which is 39% more than in the previous year.

At the same time, the First Vice Minister noted the annual growth of investments in food production. So, in 2017, investment growth was 51% compared to 2016.

Also, according to Arman Evniev, additional measures taken by the Ministry of Agriculture contribute to the increase in the inflow of private investments into the agribusiness sector. Such as the promotion and support of projects implemented by investors in the priority directions of the AIC development, state support to stimulate the inflow of direct investment, the creation of investment funds.

The Sectoral plan on investment attraction has been approved, within the framework of which specific measures are envisaged to create conditions for attracting investments.

"In accordance with the Nation’s Plan "100 Specific Steps," with the participation of strategic investors, four investment projects for the production and processing of milk and meat for a total investment amount of $175 million are being implemented," said First Deputy Minister Arman Evniev.

Work is under way with four transnational companies to implement large investment projects in Kazakhstan.

In addition to the investment projects included in the Nation’s Plan "100 Specific Steps," currently 20 projects involving foreign investors with a total value of $952 million are being implemented," Arman Evniev noted.

Work is underway to return subsidizing interest rates on loans for fixed assets, as well as leasing of agricultural machinery and animals.

In addition, it is planned to introduce such instruments as agrarian receipts, funding of credit partnerships by KazAgro holding, STBs, microfinance organizations, leasing companies.

According to the First Vice Minister of Agriculture, an investment subsidy program works to implement investment projects in the AIC, which provides for the reimbursement of part of the expenses incurred by the agro-industrial complex subject to investments in 21 priority areas.

"In four years of this program, direct investments amounting to 482 billion tenge have been attracted. There is an average of 4 tenge of private investment per 1 tenge of subsidies from the budget," the First Vice Minister said.

In conclusion, Arman Evniev noted that in 2018 the ministry sets itself the tasks of increasing the volume and activating the work within the framework of the Nation's Plan "100 Specific Steps," as well as fulfilling the instructions of the Head of State to increase labor productivity in the AIC and export of processed products by 2, 5 times.