Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan is located in the central part of the Eurasian continent. This country holds the first place by the size of the territory among the countries of Central Asia, Kazakhstan has the area of 2724.9 thousand square kilometers. Population is about 15.5 million people. In the west and the north it borders with Russia, in the south with Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan and in the east with China.
The largest cities are Almaty, Astana, Chimkent, Karaganda, Semipalatinsk, and Pavlodar. Today Kazakhstan is one of the largest countries in the world according to its reserves of hydrocarbons, and in the nearest future – to the volume of their extraction: it takes the 12th place by the volume of explored reserves of oil, 15th- by gas and gas condensate, and 23rd by oil extraction. The explored reserves of lead, zinc, bismuth put Kazakhstan on the 1st place among CIS countries, and reserves of copper, molybdenum, bauxites, oil, phosphates and cadmium - on the 2nd. Kazakhstan mines about 40 % of uranium, 97 % of chrome, 70 % of lead and 50 % of zinc from the total CIS countries’ output; extraction of other kinds of raw materials, pure precious metals, including gold, is considerable too.
Source: http://www.world-asia.info/
Kazakhstan/General Information
- Population: 15,73 million people, from which bout 53.4% are Kazakh, 29.9% are Russian, 3.7% are Ukrainian, 2.5% are Uzbek, 2.4% are German
- Capital: Astana; population 600,200 (former names include Akmola, Akmolinsk, Tselinograd and Aqmola)
- Natural resources: Kazakhstan has the second largest uranium, chromium, lead, and zinc reserves, the third largest manganese reserves, the fifth largest copper reserves, and ranks in the top ten for coal, iron, and gold. It is also an exporter of diamonds. Kazakhstan also currently ranks the 11th place by the largest proven reserves of both oil and natural gas.
- Agriculture: grain (mostly spring wheat), cotton; livestock
- Industry: 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
- Trends: Energy is the leading economic sector. Kazakhstan's economic future is linked to oil and gas development.
- Main trade partners: Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Chine, USA, Germany, Austria
Source: Wikipedia, The 2008 Fact Book
Republic of Kazakhstan | Macroeconomic Indicators
| 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GDP, USD bn | 43.1 | 57.1 | 81.0 | 104.8 | 141.2 |
| GDP per capita | 2 862.8 | 3 785.5 | 5 260.9 | 6 748.4 | 9 075.8 |
| Real GDP growth, % | 9.6 | 9.7 | 10.7 | 8.7 | 7.8 |
| Consumer prices index, % | 106.9 | 107.6 | 108.6 | 110.8 | 117.0 |
| Exports, USD bn | 22.6 | 30.5 | 41.6 | 48.5 | 54.8 |
| Imports , USD bn | 18.9 | 25.5 | 32.8 | 39.6 | 43.4 |
| Trade turnover, USD bn | 41.5 | 56.3 | 74.4 | 88.1 | 98.2 |
| Gross Official Reserves, USD bn | 9.3 | 7.1 | 19.1 | 19.9 | 20.0 |
| Capital Investments | 123.0 | 134.0 | 111.0 | 108.2 | 104.6 |
Source: National Bank of Kazakhstan, The Agency of Statistics of the Republic of Kazakhstan ,Regional Economic Outlook Middle East and Central Asia, Oct 2008
