$2.3 billion invested in Mangistau oblast in 2012

Mangistau oblast in western Kazakhstan is ranked second among Kazakhstan regions by investments per capita, Tengrinews.kz reports citing Mangistau oblast Customs Control Department. $2.3 billion of investments were attracted into the region last year. This is 2.5 times more than the country’s average values. The oblast’s external trade turnover made $12.114 billion in 2012, including $10,496 billion worth of export and $1,618 billion worth of import. Export represents 87 percent of this amount and oil is a major export product. 44 percent of export falls on Austria, 18 percent on Switzerland, 14 percent on Italy, 10 percent on the Netherlands, 5 percent on France, 3 percent on Israel, 2 percent on Germany and 1 percent on Spain. As for the CIS countries, 0.3 percent of export goes to Azerbaijan, 0.05 percent to Turkmenistan and 0.02 percent to Ukraine. Significant shares of import fall on China (19 percent), Italy (18 percent), Korea (11 percent), the Netherlands (8 percent), the UAE (6 percent), the U.S. (5 percent), Great Britain (4 percent), Germany (3 percent), Turkey (2 percent). Import destinations in CIS countries includes Azerbaijan and Ukraine (4 percent each).