Kazakhstan should be ready for global economic slowdown: President Nazarbayev

Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev stated that Kazakhstan should be ready for the expected slowing of the global economy growth in the mid run, Tengrinews reports citing Newskaz.ru.

“We should be ready to face a substantial weakening of the global economy growth. From 2000 to 2007 the global economy grew by 4% on average, with the figure falling to 2.5% in the following years”, President Nazarbayev said when speaking at the VII Astana Economic Forum.

According to him, “the situation seems to be worsening, rather than getting better”.

“GDP growth in Europe as of the end of the Q1 2014 turned out to be twice lower than expected: 0.2% instead 0.4%. The US economy that has reportedly defeated repercussions of the global crisis is also facing hardships, (…) with the estimated GDP growth expected at 1.2% at the end of the year (…) Americans have been importuning more than they export and have been consuming more than they produce (…) other G7 nations such as France, the UK, Italy, Canada are facing a trade deficit”, President Nazarbayev said.

According to him, commodities-related bubbles also pose a threat to the global economy, “with signs of such bubbles already evident in some key segments of the commodities-related global securities market”.