Kazakhstani GDP grows fast

According to preliminary information, the GDP of Kazakhstan grew by 10.4 percent over the first six months of 2003, compared to that of the corresponding period of last year, when the economic growth rate was 9.2 percent, Kazakhstani Prime Minister Danial Akhmetov declared. "The results of the first six months are obviously encouraging for us. At the same time the economy has not yet entered the stage of sustainable development," Akhmetov pointed out at a government meeting, attended by the President, on Thursday, August 7.

Akhmetov, who took up the post of Prime Minister in June 2003, promised to continue systematic reforms, to develop competition, to support the development of the industrial sector and to demonopolize railways, the telecommunications sector and the electrical power industry. Kazakhstan's GDP grew by 9.5 percent in 2002, and the government estimates the overall economic growth rate for 2003 at 8.3 percent.

As it was reported earlier, the Government of Kazakhstan expects the GDP to reach $28.96bn in 2003.