The Government session chaired by Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov considered measures to implement the instructions of the Head of State given during the opening of the first session of the 8th Parliament. Alibek Kuantyrov, Acting Minister of National Economy, reported on the work plans in the economic sector.

The Acting Minister said that the Head of State at the opening of the first session of the 8th Parliament set out specific tasks for comprehensive modernisation, including the need to give a new impetus to socio-economic development in his speech.

For instance, in order to implement the President's instructions, an action plan is being agreed upon which consists of 32 measures in eight areas.

The Ministry, together with the government agencies and organisations concerned, will develop a comprehensive plan to support small and medium-sized enterprises, including the promotion of medium-sized enterprises, whose main focus areas will be

• provision of financial support measures to SMEs;
• provision of non-financial SME support measures;
• stimulation of SME development within the framework of regional programmes;
• simplification of public procurement procedures;
• removing barriers to SME development;
• Expanding SME funding sources.

"The Head of State drew attention to the need for a new model of tax policy. All the set tasks will be implemented within the framework of the new Tax Code. The approaches of the new Tax Code will be aimed at forming a clear and predictable tax policy. Measures will be taken to simplify and digitalise tax administration. As part of the work on fair distribution of the tax burden the issue of differentiation of VAT and CIT rates depending on the priority and profitability of the industry will be worked out," Kuantyrov said. 

A working group involving central and local government agencies and the expert community continues to work on the development of the new Budget Code on the basis of the Economic Research Institute JSC.

The Regulatory Policy Consultative Document is posted on the Open NAP portal for comments and suggestions in order to widely discuss the main provisions of the document with independent experts and members of the public.

The Acting Minister stressed that in general the document will be based on the provisions of the Concept of Public Finance Management until 2030 and is aimed at building a solid foundation for fiscal policy by defining a set of measures for the management of public finances, including funds of the National Fund and increasing the efficiency of planning and use of budgetary funds through the introduction of innovations.

As part of the reform of the tariff policy based on the "Tariff in exchange for investment" principle, work has begun to reduce network depreciation (up to 20%) in the electricity, heat, water and wastewater sectors, which will reduce the number of accidents, outages and improve the quality of these services.

"More than 146,000 km of utilities will need to be repaired to achieve these targets. As of today, legal grounds have been formed to change tariffs and increase the current investment programmes. In this regard, applications with supporting documents from the CEM, worked out with sectoral state bodies and the MIO are expected to be submitted," Kuantyrov said. 

In order to improve energy efficiency and rational consumption of marketable gas, the Head of State has ordered the adoption of a plan.

In turn, the introduction of differentiated tariffs for large commercial enterprises (with consumption above 10 million m3 ) and the introduction of differentiated tariffs by volume of consumption for households and a reduction in the regional wholesale price differential are proposed to address these objectives.

These measures will improve the culture of economical use of gas, reduce the domestic consumption deficit and establish a socially equitable price for gas.

As the Minister informed, there are a total of 1,283 border villages in 65 districts with a population of 1.7 million people. In 2019-2022, 1,462 projects were implemented in 260 border villages as part of the Auyl-El Besigi project. The plan for 2023 is 290 projects in 140 border villages.

The new Rural Development Concept 2023-2027 places great emphasis on the development of border areas.

For example, the Concept provides for the construction and repair of social and engineering infrastructure, the provision of domestic digital terrestrial television and radio broadcasting channels, the possibility of introducing wage supplements and other benefits to residents of rural border districts in labour-deficient regions.

"In addition, the infrastructure of the crossing points is envisaged to be improved. One of the tools to increase the income of the entire rural population, including the border regions, will be the implementation of the Auyl Amanaty project. Measures will be implemented to screen each rural district and determine its specialization, to provide micro-credits to households, to form service and marketing cooperatives, and to lease machinery and equipment," Kuantyrov summarized.

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