Economy - overview Kazakhstan, the largest of the former Soviet republics in territory, excluding Russia, possesses enormous fossil fuel reserves as well as plentiful supplies of other minerals and metals. It also is a large agricultural - livestock and grain - producer. Kazakhstan's industrial sector rests on the extraction and processing of these natural resources and also on a growing machine-building sector specializing in construction equipment, tractors, agricultural machinery, and some defense items. The breakup of the USSR in December 1991 and the collapse in demand for Kazakhstan's traditional heavy industry products resulted in a short-term contraction of the economy, with the steepest annual decline occurring in 1994. In 1995-97, the pace of the government program of economic reform and privatization quickened, resulting in a substantial shifting of assets into the private sector. Kazakhstan has enjoyed double-digit growth in 2000-01 thanks largely to its booming energy sector, but also to economic reform, good harvests, and foreign investment. The opening of the Caspian Consortium pipeline in 2001, from western Kazakhstan's Tengiz oilfield to the Black Sea, substantially raises export capacity. Astana has embarked upon an industrial policy designed to diversify the economy away from overdependence on the oil sector by developing light industry.

GDP purchasing power parity - $98.1 billion (2001 est.)

GDP - real growth rate 12.2% (2001 est.)

GDP - per capita purchasing power parity - $5,900 (2001 est.)

GDP - composition by sector
agriculture: 10%
industry: 30%
services: 60% (2000 est.)

Population below poverty line 26% (2001 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share
lowest 10%: 2.8%
highest 10%: 27.3% (2001)

Distribution of family income - Gini index 35.4 (1996)

Inflation rate (consumer prices) 8.5% (2001 est.)

Labor force 8.4 million (1999)

Labor force - by occupation industry 30%, agriculture 20%, services 50% (2001 est.)

Unemployment rate 10% (2001 est.)

Budget
revenues: $4.2 billion
expenditures: $5.1 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (2001 est.)

Industries oil, coal, iron ore, manganese, chromite, lead, zinc, copper, titanium, bauxite, gold, silver, phosphates, sulfur, iron and steel, tractors and other agricultural machinery, electric motors, construction materials

Industrial production growth rate 11.4% (2001 est.)

Electricity - production 48.692 billion kWh (2000)

Electricity - production by source
fossil fuel: 86.4%
hydro: 13.6%
other: 0% (2000)
nuclear: 0%

Electricity - consumption 48.336 billion kWh (2000)

Electricity - exports 50 million kWh (2000)

Electricity - imports 3.102 billion kWh (2000)

Agriculture - products grain (mostly spring wheat), cotton; wool, livestock

Exports $10.5 billion (f.o.b., 2001 est.)

Exports - commodities oil and oil products 52.8%, ferrous metals 12.9%, machinery, chemicals, grain, wool, meat, coal (2000)

Exports - partners Russia 19.5%, China 7.3%, Germany 6.2% (2000)

Imports $8.2 billion (f.o.b., 2001 est.)

Imports - commodities machinery and parts 29.5%, energy and fuels 11.3%, electrical equipment 8.8%, vehicles 8.7%, ferrous metals 6.4% (2000)

Imports - partners Russia 48.7%, Germany 6.6%, US 5.5% (2000)

Debt - external $11.6 billion (2001 est.)

Economic aid - recipient $610 million in US assistance programs, 1992-2000

Currency tenge (KZT)

Currency code KZT

Exchange rates tenge per US dollar - 151.14 (January 2002), 146.74 (2001), 142.13 (2000), 119.52 (1999), 78.30 (1998), 75.44 (1997)

Fiscal year calendar year

NOTE: The information regarding Kazakhstan on this page is re-published from the 2002 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Kazakhstan Economy 2002 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Kazakhstan Economy 2002 should be addressed to the CIA.