Content: 1 Top Story 3 Interview 5 Feature 7 Sector 9 Corporate statement11 Economics & finance13 Chart14 News in brief

October 2014 www.bne.eu

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Top story

Kazakh sovereign wealth fund told to double assets in

five years

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has ordered national wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna to double the value of its assets over the next five years. The fund’s assets are currently valued at $100bn.

Nazarbayev told a Samruk-Kazyna forum in Astana on October 6 that the fund’s assets now accounted for 50% of the country’s GDP and state-owned companies run by Samruk-Kazyna

paid KZT2.5 trillion ($13.9bn) in taxes in the past three years. It now employs more than 350,000 people. Samruk-Kazyna manages state-owned assets such as oil and gas giant KazMunaiGas, railway operator Kazakhstan Temir Zholy, uranium producer Kazatomprom, Air Astana, and Kazakhtelecom.

The president suggested that the fund should increase its value by creating new portfolio

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companies and through increasing productivity and investment in efficient and profitable projects. Ultimately, at least three Samruk-Kazyna-run companies should be included in the Fortune-500 list of global companies with sales exceeding $5bn, he said. KazMunaiGas and Kazakhstan Temir Zholy qualify for the list at the moment.

Samruk-Kazyna is undergoing a restructuring programme to shed non-core assets. Umirzak Shukeyev, the fund’s head, told the forum that under the programme, the number of the fund’s subsidiaries and dependent companies would be reduced from nearly 600 to 300 and the level of management levels would be cut from nine to four. Shukeyev said the fund had already cut operating costs by KZT128bn ($710m).

Lack of transparency and nepotism at state-owned companies remained a problem, the president complained. Nazarbayev threatened to sack Shukeyev if the companies continue to hire “one’s acquaintances”. “It is sufficient to make a call or be one’s acquaintance to place a person

in a job who then sits there idle. This is the main problem,” the president said. “Mr Shukeyev, if you cope with this task you will work, if you don’t you will not work.”

Shukeyev told the forum that the restructuring programme aimed to improve management at state companies. “This will ensure an additional contribution to GDP worth KZT2,000bn or $11bn” by 2020, he said. Kazakhstan’s GDP stood at $220bn last year.

Samruk-Kazyna plans to get rid of non-core assets by privatising them fully or partially. The programme also envisages selling shares in national companies to the population in what’s known as a “people’s IPO”. Nazarbayev called for the plans to be made transparent to enable as many ordinary citizens as possible to buy shares. “We should involve a maximum number of Kazakhs in the programme, so each citizen could feel economic growth by increasing their own wellbeing through purchasing shares in companies which launch the ‘people’s IPO’,” Nazarbayev said.

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Interview

EEU to set up common energy market by 2025

The member states of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) are working on setting up common energy markets as global competition for energy resources and markets is intensifies and interdependence between suppliers and consumers increases, according to a top EEU official.

Danial Akhmetov, energy commissioner of the Eurasian Economic Commission and a former Kazakh prime minister, told an international oil and gas conference in Almaty on October 1 that the establishment of common markets of gas, of oil and petroleum products, and of energy transport systems was prompted by the changing structure and geography of energy flows due to the breakthroughs in producing shale oil and gas. Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus set up the Customs Union in 2010, which will be transformed into the Eurasian Economic Union

in 2015. Kyrgyzstan and Armenia are expected to join the Moscow-led free-trade bloc by the end of this year.

The development of shale deposits will increase competition on the energy market and will directly hit strategic interests of suppliers of conventional energy, Akhmetov said. “In this situation issues of ensuring competitiveness of fuel and energy sectors of member states of the Customs Union and Single Economic Space are becoming increasingly topical.”

With the US set to fully meet its energy needs by 2025 thanks to shale gas output reaching about 470bn cubic metres (cm), the CU member states will adopt a blueprint for the development of common markets of gas, oil and petroleum products by January 1,

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2016, and adopt programmes for setting up the common markets by January 1, 2018. “In addition, we anticipate measures stipulated in these programmes should be implemented by 2024 after which international treaties on the formation of common markets of gas and oil and petroleum products that should come into force no later than 2025,” Akhmetov said.

In addition to global energy trends, the energy commissioner explained, falling oil production in Russia is forcing Customs Union member states to unite their energy producing capacities to remain competitive: thus the reduction in Russian oil output to 505m tonnes a year by 2025 will be offset by an increase in Kazakh oil production of between 95m and 125m tonnes, while the combined output of gas in Russia and Kazakhstan will exceed 800bn cm per year. “This will enable them to maintain their export capacities,” Akhmetov suggested.

“The EEU Treaty clearly defines goals and tasks of cooperation between the member states in the energy sector,” he said. “In particular, in the oil and sector this concerns the stage-by-stage formation of a common gas market, common oil and petroleum products markets, and common market of oil and gas transport systems.”

These goals and tasks will be implemented based on the basic principles of ensuring competitiveness in the energy sector, the removal of obstacles to trade in energy resources, the development of transport infrastructure, and ensuring non-discriminatory conditions for market players from member states in the energy sector, according to the EEU common energy market plans. These treaties will provide for common rules for accessing

energy transport systems, which is important for creating a competitive environment and using efficiently oil and gas infrastructure in the Customs Union.

The Eurasian energy commissioner explained that bilateral treaties signed between the member states would be in force until the creation of the common markets, as this will take some time. “A gradual approach to transformation is more preferable than excessive hastiness,” he said.

Kazakhstan safe from Western sanctionsIn an interview with bne on the sidelines of the conference, Akhmetov explained that Kazakhstan’s involvement in the establishment of common energy and transport markets with Russia would not jeopardise Astana’s cooperation with the West in the oil and gas sphere. “The EEU is a union purely in the economic sphere and it is not exposed to political influence,” Akhmetov told bne. “We believe the sanctions against Russia concern only Russia, and Kazakhstan is free from these sanctions. Kazakhstan is actively interacting with the entire world.”

Despite being a member of the Russia-led free trade bloc, Kazakhstan’s trade within the Customs Union countries constitutes only 19% of its total trade and the rest is trade with the EU, China and the US, he noted. The Western sanctions have shut Russian state-owned companies off from Western oil and gas technologies as well as the capital markets. “[Western] investment activities are not decreasing but increasing in Kazakhstan, and new technologies are coming to Kazakhstan and will continue to do so,” Akhmetov believes.

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Delays in the resumption of oil production from the giant offshore Kashagan field have dashed the Kazakh government's hopes of increasing oil output before 2016. Fearing that the delay in the start of Kashagan’s commercial production will damage economic performance, the government is trying to compensate for the shortfall by increasing output from other fields.

Kazakhstan will maintain oil output at last year's 81.8m tonnes this year and next year, Magzum Mirzagaliyev, deputy energy minister, told journalists at the KIOGE oil and gas conference in Almaty on October 1. "Our plans for this year remain at 81.8m tonnes. We expect we will fulfil the plans," Mirzagaliyev said. "We are now looking for reserves, particularly, TCO [Tengizchevroil] has a great impact on the [total

oil] output." Tengizchevroil, which is developing the onshore giant Tengiz field, is expected to produce 27m tonnes of oil this year, he noted. TCO is planning repairs in October that are expected to be completed quickly, Mirzagaliyev explained.

The deputy energy minister said that the government was in talks with other oil producers to increase their output. "We are closely working with each licence holder to issue necessary permissions and consider necessary project documentation as quickly as possible," Mirzagaliyev said.

Production at Kashagan was launched on September 11, 2013, but a leak on the gas pipeline running to the onshore processing facility at Bolashak led production to be halted on September 24. An attempt to restart operations was abandoned on October 9.

Astana expected Kashagan to resume production in July, and forecast it would produce 2.5-3m tonnes of oil by the end of the year. Myrzagaliyev suggested that production would now resume in the field in the second half of 2016. "Judging by information we receive and technical forecasts we see, it [resumption] should be in the second half of 2016," he said.

The Kazakh government is now holding talks with the Kashagan developers on the penalties they will face for delaying commercial production, and costs borne by them since the suspension will not be covered, Mirzagaliyev said. "On September 11, 2013, you remember, the contractor [NCOC] achieved commercial production. Costs borne under the phase one since October will not be compensated for," he said. However, "the sum hasn't yet been determined”.

The Kazakh government had, until recently, been forecasting a major

Feature

Kashagan delay dashes Kazakh hopes of raising oil output before 2016

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leap in oil output this year on the back of the start of commercial production at Kashagan. Over the next five years, Kazakhstan's oil production was expected to increase by around 25%, from 82m tonnes in 2012 to 102m tonnes in 2017. Kashagan, in the Caspian Sea, was the largest oilfield discovery in the world in the last three decades, and has estimated recoverable reserves of around 13bn barrels of oil.

Kashagan is being developed by the international consortium NCOC. State-owned KazMunaiGas

owns an 16.88% stake in the project, Eni, Shell, Total and ExxonMobil hold 16.81% each, with Japan's Inpex owning 7.56%. US major ConocoPhilips sold its 8.33% stake to KazMunaiGas for $5.4bn in 2013, which in turn sold it to China's CNPC.

Chevron holds 50% in TCO, with ExxonMobil owning 25%, KazMunaiGas 20% and Lukarco, controlled by Lukoil, holding 5%.

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Kazakhstan to upgrade refineries by 2016 to prevent repeat of fuel shortages

Kazakhstan’s government has vowed to make the country more self-reliant on petroleum products after it completes the overhaul of the country's three Soviet-era refineries in 2016, in a bid to prevent a repeat of September’s chronic fuel shortages. However, the energy ministry said on October 7 it had decided not to build a fourth refinery, instead opting to expand the existing Shymkent refinery.

Deputy Energy Minister Magzum Mirzagaliyev told the KIOGE international oil and gas conference in Almaty on October 1 that the country was implementing a programme to reconstruct the Atyrau, Pavlodar and Shymkent refineries, whose combined capacity is too low to satisfy domestic demand for light petroleum products. After the modernisation programme, Kazakhstan will raise the level of demand met by domestic production from the current 70% to 88%.

"We expect the modernisation of the refineries to be completed in 2016. As a result, the country will be able to satisfy its needs in petroleum products that we now have to import from the Russian Federation," Mirzagaliyev said.

The oil-rich Central Asian nation currently has to cover around 30% of demand with imports from Russia. This causes problems because wholesale prices of some types of petrol and diesel supplied in Russia are higher than Kazakhstan's domestic retail prices, which are set by the government. This discrepancy makes imports of fuel unprofitable, which in September led to acute fuel shortages and kilometre-long queues at the pumps.

There had been some uncertainty about whether the government would opt to expand the Shymkent refinery

Sector

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or build a fourth refinery to deal with any fuel shortages after 2023. Alisher Argimbayev, deputy chairman of the Energy Ministry's department for the development of the oil industry, told bne that shortages of diesel are estimated at 91,000 tonnes in 2023 and 160,000 tonnes in 2025.

However, on October 7, First Deputy Energy Minister Uzakbay Karabalin told MPs that the government had opted for expanding the Shymkent refinery, because for a new refinery to be feasible its capacity would have to be at least 10m tonnes. “The government has suggested the expansion of the Shymkent refinery instead of building a fourth one, and the head of state [President Nursultan Nazarbayev] has approved this proposal,” Karabalin told hearings in parliament. “This is the most favourable option.”

Mirzagaliyev told the KIOGE conference that an expansion of the Shymkent was more feasible than the construction of a fourth refinery, because Shymkent has room for capacity to be expanded as well as the necessary logistics and customers to handle the extra product.

Speaking at the KIOGE conference on October 2, Kadyrberdi Elevsinov, managing director at KazMunaiGas Refining and Marketing, said that following the reconstruction of the existing refineries, capacity would increase from 14.3m tonnes in 2013 to 18.5m tonnes in 2017. This translates into 115.3% growth in high-octane petrol production to 5.73m tonnes, a 38.3% increase in diesel output to 5.63m tonnes, and a 138% jump in jet fuel production to 957,000 tonnes. The reconstruction programme will also see the

northern Pavlodar refinery completely switch to refining domestic oil instead of Siberian oil.

Domestic petrol prices to riseSince the Kazakh government caps the prices of 80 octane and 92 octane petrol and diesel in order to keep inflation under control (transport costs are believed to make up up to 50% of the price of finished products in Kazakhstan), a 19% devaluation of the tenge in February has made Kazakh domestic retail fuel prices lower than the wholesale prices in Russia.

Mirzagaliyev admitted that this discouraged independent traders from importing fuel from Russia, leading to the recent shortages. The situation is improving because KazMunaiGas, the national oil and gas company, agreed to import 180,000 tonnes of light petroleum products from Russia and 10,000 tonnes from Azerbaijan at a loss, he said. "However, we are not ready and are not planning to abandon the state regulation of fuel prices," the deputy energy minister conceded.

On October 1, First Deputy Energy Minister Uzakbay Karabalin complained that the low prices of petrol meant Kazakhstan was "in essence a cheap petrol station in the entire Eurasian space" for vehicles transiting through the country. "The issue is how long we will be able to continue this. I believe there should be an increase in price in the future," Karabalin said.

The first deputy energy ministry suggested that Kazakhstan might bring petrol prices to the Russian levels by 2019, but stressed that the current prices would be maintained until the end of this year.

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Samruk-Kazyna restructuring to generate $11bn for Kazakh GDP

Samruk-Kazyna, Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund that manages stakes in major state-owned assets worth a combined nearly $100bn, is overhauling its business strategy, including the approaches to investment and asset management.

Under the programme, which was publicly announced during the Samruk-Kazyna Transformation Forum in Astana on October 6, new management mechanisms will soon be introduced in all companies managed by the fund. As early as 2014, business processes will be re-engineered in three pilot organisations – Kazakhstan Temir Zholy national railways company, national oil and gas company KazMunaiGas, and postal operator KazPost.

These measures, Samruk-Kazyna hopes, will reduce operating costs by 20% by 2017, and generate more than $11.2bn in value added for Kazakhstan’s economy.

In addition to improvements in business processes, the transformation programme envisages attracting external investors, selling

non-core assets and improving investment portfolios, as well as comprehensively reorganising and streamlining the fund’s operations. As a result, the number of companies managed by Samruk-Kazyna will be reduced from the current 600 to 300 by 2017. Furthermore, in the short to medium term, major companies like grid operator KEGOC, Samruk-Energo, Kazakhstan Temir Zholy and nuclear holding KazAtomProm will carry out IPOs.

Samruk-Kazyna’s so-called “transformation programme” is a key element of the country’s Strategy 2050 – an ambitious development initiative of President Nursultan Nazarbayev. “By that time, Kazakhstan should become one of the world’s 30 most developed countries. To achieve this goal, in the next several years we should increase growth in productivity from 3.6% to 6.5%, and the investment level should grow from 21.4% to 30.0% of GDP. These results are possible only based on a fundamental change in the country’s economy, and this change must be led by Samruk-Kazyna sovereign wealth fund, which

Corporate statement

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owns the nation’s main strategic enterprises,” President Nazarbayev told the forum.

Beyond business strategy, the transformation programme provides for a complete overhaul of Samruk-Kazyna’s approaches to operational management through the introduction of a “commercial strategic holding” model. Internal reforms will entail three main directions – People-Processes-Technologies – to create a management structure that can react swiftly to changes in the market using cutting-edge technologies.

Increased capital efficiency will be a specific focus of the transformation programme. “Sovereign funds in other countries are generating greater

revenues from the same level of investments. For that reason, our goal will be to continuously increase the value of the Fund’s subsidiaries through profit maximisation,” Samruk-Kazyna CEO Umirzak Shukeyev said.

“Given the shift in economic gravity towards Asia, opportunities for Kazakhstan to be a regional and even global driver of economic growth are obviously expanding,” the renowned economist Nouriel Roubini said at the forum. “In this context, the efforts of the country’s leadership to create a modern and attractive development model can only be welcome. And in this model, a modernised and competitive sovereign wealth fund which effectively manages state assets is a key element.”

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Kazakh Eurobond set to provide new benchmark for corporate issues

Kazakh corporate bond yields fell on October 7 after the government returned to global capital markets with its first dollar-denominated Eurobond issue in 14 years. Good demand for the $2.5bn issue and the low yields achieved are expected to provide a new benchmark for Kazakh corporate bond issuers such as state oil and gas firm KazMunaiGas.

Kazakhstan issued 10-year Eurobonds worth $1.5bn and 30-year bonds worth $1bn on October 6. The 10-year bonds were priced to yield 4.07%, with a spread of 150 basis points over mid-swaps, and the 30-year bonds had a yield of 5.11% (with a spread of 200 basis points).

In response, Bloomberg said that the yield on KazMunaiGas' 10-year and 30-year Eurobonds worth a combined $3bn issued in 2013 fell by 0.15 percentage point to 4.56% and 0.14 percentage point to 5.92% respectively on the news. The

yields are more than 1 percentage point lower since their January highs, Bloomberg added.

“Bearing in mind high demand from investors [for the Kazakh Eurobond] we expect the yields of corporate Eurobonds to fall by 20-30 basis points,” said Sabina Amangeldy, an analyst at the Almaty-based investment bank Halyk Finance.

Investors showed high interest in the sovereign Eurobond, which attracted bids to the tune of $11bn. Citigroup, HSBC and JPMorgan Chase arranged the sale. Kazakhstan holds a 'Baa2' rating with a positive outlook from Moody’s, and a 'BBB+' rating from Standard & Poor’s (negative outlook) and Fitch Ratings (stable outlook).

Previously the Kazakh government issued seven-year Eurobonds worth $300m in April 2000. The government planned to issue Eurobonds in 2010, but abandoned the plans because of market conditions and obtained a $1bn loan from the World Bank instead.

“The Finance Ministry used a favourable situation of low interest rates to fund budget deficit ahead of an anticipated increase in rates in the first half of 2014,” wrote Amangeldy in a commentary on October 7. The analyst noted that the Kazakh Finance Ministry increased borrowing in the fourth quarter when transfers from the National Oil Fund dry out. “Another reason is to set a benchmark for corporate issuers.”

In February the country’s sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna, which manages state-owned assets including KazMunaiGas, said that its subsidiaries would need to raise over $2bn in global capital markets.

Economics & finance

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Great Aral Sea has dried up, NASA photos show

The eastern basin of the South Aral Sea, also known as the Great Aral Sea, completely dried up this summer, according to NASA pictures taken in August. The Aral Sea was the world's fourth largest lake until it started drying up in the 1960s because of extensive cotton production in Soviet Central Asia.

"Summer 2014 marked another milestone for the Aral Sea, the once-extensive lake in Central Asia that has been shrinking markedly since the 1960s. For the first time in modern history, the eastern basin of the South Aral Sea has completely dried," the NASA-run Earth Observatory website said on September 26.

"This is the first time the eastern basin has completely dried in modern times," said Philip Micklin, a geographer emeritus from Western Michigan University and an Aral Sea expert, according to Earth Observatory. "And it is likely the first time it has completely dried in 600 years,

since Medieval desiccation associated with diversion of Amu Darya to the Caspian Sea."

The Aral Sea started drying up in the 1960s when the Soviet government diverted Central Asia's two major rivers - the Amu Darya and Syr Darya - to cotton fields. The sea, once covering an area of nearly 70,000 square kilometres and containing over 1bn cubic km of water, split into the northern and southern parts, now known as the Little Aral Sea and Great Aral Sea, in 1989 and the southern part split further into western and eastern lobes in 2003.

Micklin explained that the eastern lobe first disappeared in 2009 but it rebounded the following year because of wet years. The dry conditions in 2014 meant that the eastern lobe has now disappeared completely.

The two pictures below show first the Aral Sea in 1960, followed by the August 2014 that shows the eastern lobe gone.

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Chart

The budget of oil-rich Kazakhstan, like other big hydrocarbon producers, depends massively on the global oil price. In order to minimise the risk of failing to meet its social commitments, the Kazakh government uses conservative forecasts of global oil prices when it budgets for public spending. When the actual oil prices are higher than the fiscal breakeven oil prices used for budgeting, the government receives a windfall, which it can then use to increase public-sector wages, welfare payments and pensions later in the year.

This month’s chart shows that compared with other oil-producing countries, Kazakhstan has successfully reduced the fiscal breakeven oil

price since the global economic crisis hit in 2008. This means that in fiscal terms, it is well placed to weather any fall in the oil price.

The government’s conservative approach to the breakeven oil price also helps explain the success of the October’s $3.5bn Eurobond issue, which garnered bids worth a total of $11bn. This marked Kazakhstan’s return to the global capital markets after a period of 14 years.

The issue of the bonds was prompted by the need to set a benchmark for Kazakh corporate issuers, many of which need to borrow large sums over the next year or so to invest in expanding operations and rolling over existing debt.

Kazakhstan’s prudence on show

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Russian, Kazakh leaders meet to revive falling trade

Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed with his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev on September 30 that the sides need to follow the current trends in the global economy and their own economies to “make certain adjustments” to reverse the recent decline in trade, ITAR-TASS reported.

Putin met with his Kazakh counterpart in Atyrau, some 350km east of the Russian city of Astrakhan, ahead of the Russia-Kazakhstan interregional cooperation forum.

While acknowledging that there has been a decrease in bilateral trade this year, the Kazakh president stressed, “I think this is a temporary trend.” He urged the two countries to adopt the necessary measures to increase trade.

Putin, Nazarbayev launch $500m Eurasia hydrocarbon production project

Putin and Nazarbayev launched on September 30 the joint project Eurasia for ultra-deep well drilling for hydrocarbon production, ITAR-TASS reported.

The project aims to discover hydrocarbons deposits at the depth of some 7-9 kilometres in the area of the Caspian Lowland. The well’s depth is expected to reach 15 kilometres.

Kazakhstan’s First Deputy Energy Minister Uzakbai Karabalin told the presidents that about 80% of Kazakh hydrocarbons are concentrated

in this region. About 30% of the Caspian Lowland territory is in Russia.

Almaty and Beijing to vie for 2022 Winter Olympic Games

Oslo is set to withdraw from the race to host the 2022 Winter Olympics, leaving Almaty and Beijing to vie for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games.

Kazakhstan extends moratorium on bread price rises until end-Oct

Kazakhstan has extended the capping of bread prices until the end of October to avert social discontent caused by rising food prices.

The original memoranda on grain prices were signed by the Agriculture Ministry, local administrations and the Food Contract Corporation national grain operator in February following a 19% devaluation of the tenge. The extension of the memoranda will help maintain the price of bread until the grain of the new harvest hits the market.

"The State Commission for Modernising the Kazakh Economy adopted a resolution on September 10 to extend the duration of memoranda on measures to stabilise the price of a loaf made of wheat flour grade 2 and [the price of] flour grade 2," the grain operator said in a press release on September 30. "In order to avoid a sharp rise in the price of

News in brief

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the cheapest bread until satiating the domestic market with flour of the new grain harvest, the state commission decided to extend the duration of the aforementioned memoranda.”

wSamruk-Kazyna announces official launch of active phase of People's IPO

On October 1, sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna officially confirmed that electricity grid operator KEGOC has been included in the programme called the “People's IPO”, which looks to sell shares to the public in major state enterprises.

“On approval of the Comprehensive Plan of privatization for 2014 – 2016, it is planned to place 10% minus 1 share of the total number of authorized common shares of KEGOG JSC,” a statement said. “The exact number of shares, the offering price of a share and the structure of the offering will be announced just before the subscription, which is scheduled for the first half of November. The information will be published on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE) and in the media.”

Kazakh oil production could hit 100m tonnes a year by 2023

"Kazakhstan's oil production may hit 100m tons a year by 2023," Energy Minister of Kazakhstan Vladimir Shkolnik said at a sitting of the Majilis ecology and natural resources management committee, Kazinform reported.

According to Shkolnik , realization of the Tengiz minefield extension project and steady oil

extraction from the delayed Kashagan oilfield could bring the country's oil production up to 100m tons a year by 20203.

Kazakhstan backs project on oil expansion of Tengizchevroil despite costs

Kazakhstan has supported implementation of the Tengizchevroil (TCO) expansion project aimed at increasing oil production despite its costs, said Kazakh Energy Minister Vladimir Shkolnik on October 8, reported Reuters.

'TCO's output is crucial to keep Kazakhstan's oil output roughly unchanged at 81.8 million ton this year and next before the giant Kashagan oil project, shut due to gas leaks in its pipelines last October, is restarted in 2016,' said Shkolnik.

Birth rate goes up 25% in Kazakhstan over past decade

Kazakhstan has seen an increase in the birth rate and decease in mortality rate, Tengrinews cited the Director of the Center of Obstetric, Gynecology and Perinatology of Almaty, Talgat Kudaibergenov, as saying.

'The number of births is nearing 400,000 a year, which certainly is a good thing. The demographic situation in Kazakhstan is positive. While the birth rate has been increasing, the death rate has been decreasing. Over the past 10 years, the birth rate has gone up by 25%,' Kudaibergenov said.

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Digital TV coverage in Kazakhstan to make up 95% in 2 years

The government of Kazakhstan expects the country will have 95% digital television coverage in two years, said Minister for Investment and Development Asset Issekeshev at the global forum on e-Government, AKIpress reported.

“The coverage of digital television by now is 51% and by the end of the year we plan to reach 72%. In two years we plan to achieve 95% coverage,” Novosti-Kazakhstan cited Issekeshev as saying.

EXPO-2017 in Astana to bring ¤280m to Kazakhstan

EXPO-2017 that will take in Astana from June 10 to September 10, 2017 is expected to bring more than ¤280m in profit to Kazakhstan, Tengrinews quoted Chairman of Astana EXPO-2017 national company that runs preparations for EXPO-2017, Talgat Yermegiyayev, as saying.

“The (expected) revenue that we submitted in the registration dossier exceeded ¤280m. This is our business plan. This is the profit we will have from the sponsors, ticket sales, our commercial activities. I think we will make these ¤283m,” Yermegiyaev said when reporting on the course of preparations for the EXPO-2017 to an extended meeting of the Majilis Committee for Environment and Nature.

Dry port construction in Almaty region to cost KZT74bn

Construction of a dry port within the Khorgos - East Gate special economic zone in Almaty region will

cost KZT74bn, the press service of the government of Almaty region said following a meeting with the representatives of Kazakhstan Temir Zholy NAC.

Kazakh power grid firm to implement 15 investment projects until 2025

"Kazakhstan's Electricity Grid Operating Company (KEGOC) will fulfill 15 investment projects until 2025 aimed at raising reliability and ensuring energy independence of Kazakhstan," KEGOC CEO Bakytzhan Kazhiyev said.

The company has a good practice of realizing large investment projects worth $1bn with participation of the world's leading financial institutions, the EBRD and WB.

Minister warns Kazakhstan is cheap petrol source for transit motorists

Kazakhstan has become a cheap gas station for the entire Eurasian space, the first vice-minister of energy Uzakbai Karabalin warned in October. As such, subsidized petrol prices in Kazakhstan should be increased in the nearest future.

"Do you know that currently the lowest price for gasoline in the near and far surroundings of 30-40 countries is here in Kazakhstan? Today, Kazakhstan, in fact, is the cheapest gas station for the whole of Eurasia. Drivers moving though the territory of Kazakhstan try to fill up fuel tanks in Kazakhstan. At the present time KazMunaiGas on behalf of the government purchases petrol from abroad and sells it cheaper at a loss. In my opinion, the price for gasoline in Kazakhstan should be increased," said Karabalin.

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