Today during the meeting of the Government, chaired by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Bakytzhan Sagintayev, the data on the inflation rate for the 9 months of 2017 and the planned measures for its containment by the end of this year were considered.

Minister of National Economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan Timur Suleimenov reported that since the beginning of 2017, a slowdown in inflation processes has been seen in the republic. In September of this year, inflation was 0.3%, and only since the beginning of the year – 4.2%. The main factors of the slowdown were stabilization of the situation in the foreign exchange market, moderate inflation expectations of the market, as well as an increase in output by main types of food products. Thus, food prices have been falling for the last 3 consecutive months. At the same time, prices and tariffs for paid services are growing at a moderate pace.

Despite the seasonal decline in food prices, since the beginning of this year a double-digit price increase has been noted for onions, carrots, beets, lamb meat and beef. At the same time, double-digit price declines were recorded in eggs, buckwheat, cabbage, sugar and sunflower oil. For non-food products, the greatest increase in prices is observed for diesel fuel, gasoline, liquefied gas, fabrics, stationery, footwear and solid fuel.

To mitigate these risks, the Government will take preventive measures to prevent unjustified price increases and tariffs on socially important food products and services.

In this regard, akims of the regions together with the Ministry of Agriculture need to ensure a sufficient supply of basic food products in the Regional Stabilization Funds. Also they must conduct daily monitoring of prices and effectively use the resources of stabilization funds to prevent a deficit and saturate the market with socially important foodstuffs.

The Ministry of Energy jointly with the akims of the regions should carry out appropriate work to prevent unreasonable increase in prices for fuel and lubricants during the heating season.

Taking into account the above-mentioned preventive measures, the inflation rate for the year 2017 is expected in the range of 6.9-7.5%, which corresponds to the planned level.

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