Economy - overview:
Kazakhstan, the largest of the former Soviet republics in territory, excluding Russia, possesses enormous fossil fuel reserves as well as plentiful supplies of other minerals and metals. It also has a large agricultural sector featuring livestock and grain. Kazakhstan's industrial sector rests on the extraction and processing of these natural resources and also on a growing machine-building sector specializing in construction equipment, tractors, agricultural machinery, and some defense items. The breakup of the USSR in December 1991 and the collapse in demand for Kazakhstan's traditional heavy industry products resulted in a short-term contraction of the economy, with the steepest annual decline occurring in 1994. In 1995-97, the pace of the government program of economic reform and privatization quickened, resulting in a substantial shifting of assets into the private sector. Kazakhstan enjoyed double-digit growth in 2000-01 - and a solid 9.5% in 2002 - thanks largely to its booming energy sector, but also to economic reform, good harvests, and foreign investment. Growth remained at the high 9% level in 2003 and 2004. The opening of the Caspian Consortium pipeline in 2001, from western Kazakhstan's Tengiz oilfield to the Black Sea, substantially raised export capacity. The country has embarked upon an industrial policy designed to diversify the economy away from overdependence on the oil sector, by developing light industry. Additionally, the policy aims to reduce the influence of foreign investment and foreign personnel; the government has engaged in several disputes with foreign oil companies over the terms of production agreements, and tensions continue.

Airlines
Airlines in Asia
Airlines Worldwide

Airports
Airports in Asia
Airports Worldwide

Country Budget
revenues: $8.67 billion
expenditures: $8.968 billion, including capital expenditures of NA (2004 est.)

Currency (code)
tenge (KZT)

Currency Exchange Rate
tenge per US dollar - 136.04 (2004), 149.58 (2003), 153.28 (2002), 146.74 (2001), 142.13 (2000)

Fiscal Year
calendar year

GDP (Gross Domestic Product)
GDP (purchasing power parity): $118.4 billion (2004 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 9.1% (2004 est.)
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $7,800 (2004 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 7.4%
industry: 37.8%
services: 54.8% (2004 est.)

Imports / Exports
Exports: $18.47 billion f.o.b. (2004 est.)
Exports - commodities: oil and oil products 58%, ferrous metals 24%, chemicals 5%, machinery 3%, grain, wool, meat, coal (2001)
Exports - partners: Russia 15.1%, Bermuda 13.8%, Germany 11%, China 9.9%, France 6.6%, Italy 4% (2004)

Imports: $13.07 billion f.o.b. (2004 est.)
Imports - commodities: machinery and equipment 41%, metal products 28%, foodstuffs 8% (2001)
Imports - partners: Russia 34.6%, China 15.4%, Germany 8.2%, France 5.7%, Ukraine 4.6% (2004)

Industries
oil, coal, iron ore, manganese, chromite, lead, zinc, copper, titanium, bauxite, gold, silver, phosphates, sulfur, iron and steel; tractors and other agricultural machinery, electric motors, construction materials

Investing
Forex, Foreign Exchange Market: Currency Trading

Labor Force & Unemployment Rate
Labor force: 7.95 million (2004 est.)
Labor force - by occupation: agriculture 20%, industry 30%, services 50% (2002 est.)
Unemployment rate: 8% (2004 est.)