President Nazarbayev assures there is no internal crisis in Kazakhstan

 There is no internal economic crisis, a Tengrinews.kz journalist reports, citing President Nursultan Nazarbayev as saying at an extended government sitting.

“I want to emphasize there is no internal crisis (…) the global crisis is an external factor. The country’s economy is facing the drastic drop of oil prices from $100 per barrel back in June 2014 to $50 per barrel. Global prices for major Kazakhstan’s commodities such as metals, fertilizers and others have been on the decline. Besides, our economy is being hit by the Russia’s tumbling rouble and recession. In the member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation the number of the unemployed stands at 43 million (…) the unemployment rate in Europe stands at 11.5%. We are part of the globalized economy and we cannot evade the negative impact of external factors”, President said.

“A lot has been done to mitigate the negative impact. The Nurly-Zhol anti-crisis program is one of the tools to ensure development amidst tough economic conditions. I’ve told earlier that the year is going to be tough. At today’s sitting all those in attendance can make suggestions (…)”, he said.