We are approaching a more severe crisis than the one we faced back in 2007-2009: President Nazarbayev

October 19 Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev received the country’s PM Karim Massimov in his Astana-based residence Akorda. During the talks the PM briefed President on the status of major state-run economic programs.

 “Due to falling global prices for hydrocarbons, budget revenues have dropped by 40%. Besides, global prices are falling for major Kazakhstan’s commodities such as iron ore, base metals, coal. The nation’s agriculture has been growing very insignificantly, with industrial production being on the decrease”, President Nazarbayev said.

“Given the current state of the global economy, there could hardly be any forecast of economic upturn. Kazakhstan’s people should be aware of decreased revenues of Kazakhstan-based enterprises and possible lays off. We are approaching a more severe crisis than the one we faced back in 2007-2009. To this end, I task the Government to come up with an anti-crisis plan, think of needed measures», President said, adding that the gloomy conclusions are based on recent talks held in the USA and China and talks with the Russia’s Government.

“The recently adopted Nurly Zhol Program enables to ensure employment opportunities, including through retraining initiatives (…) Besides, there should be a program to render support to socially vulnerable groups of population”, President said.

“Troubled industrial enterprises shouldn’t expect the Government to give them a hand. I prohibit to use money of the National Oil Fund [accumulating windfall revenues from oil sales] to bail out troubled industrial entities. We have to see what enterprises are genuinely effective (…) Besides, there have been some efforts to have some industrial facilities privatized with a view of ensuring a more efficient management”, he said.