Kazakh Ministry of Trade and Integration announces results of work for 2022
The Ministry of Trade and Integration has announced the results of its activity in 2022 at an extended board meeting chaired by Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov, El.kz reports.
According to Serik Zhumangarin, Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Trade and Integration, in 10 months of 2022, commodity turnover increased by 34.1% and made $110.6bln, against the same period in 2021.
The volume of mutual trade with the EAEU countries reached $23bln, which is 7.5% higher against 2021. Six trade barriers were eliminated last year, which enabled Kazakhstan to earn additionally $500mln.
Customs duties were removed in regards to 1,343 critical imports: vegetables, cereals, dairy products, foodstuffs, spare parts, raw materials etc.
The Minister noted a 34.8% increase in non-resource exports in the reporting period, which made $21.7bln. At the same time, the export of services in January –September 2022 rose by 31% and reached $5.5bln.
For the purpose of free trade development and export promotion, Kazakhstan ratified the protocol of prolongation of the 2025 Kazakhstan-Iran Temporary Free Trade Agreement. The process of conclusion of a full-fledged agreement with the Islamic Republic of Iran is at the final stage. Kazakhstan expects to receive up to $250mln from ramping up the exports. The country plans to sign similar agreements with Indonesia and UAE. Their economic effect is evaluated at more than $1bln.
With a view of implementation of mutually beneficial cooperation projects and development of transport-logistics routes, the Ministry works on creating a network of near-border centers of trade, transportation, logistics and industrial cooperation.
«An international center of industrial cooperation will be established on the border with Uzbekistan. Special attention is given to the development of infrastructure of eastern line of the North-South corridor towards Iran, as part of development of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route. Priority is given to the development of the potential of transportations towards India and Pakistan,» said Zhumangarin.
In his words, Kazakhstan continues modernizing the centers operating on the borders with China, Russia and Kyrgyzstan. Successful implementation of the project will let boost transit cargo transportations more than twofold, while commodity turnover will increase by 30% in average.
According to the Minister, food inflation in 2022 was at 25.3%. The main price spike at 13.7% occurred in the period from February to April 2022, due to geopolitical changes, weakening of the national currency rate and introduction of sanctions and countersanctions in regards to the trade partners of Kazakhstan.
The Ministry has developed a package of measures to solve the key issues in trade sphere. Among them is state policy of stimulating investments in trade sector, allocation of land plots by local akimats for the construction of retail spaces and creation of 70 modern vegetable storage facilities.
As for technical regulation of trade, Kazakhstan has accredited for the first time a Halal product certification authority. Seven sectors of economy have been fully standardized, and 77 laboratories have been modernized. The country continues its work on elimination of «grey» certificates and other violations in the field of technical regulation.
Upon completion of the meeting, Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov set a number of priority tasks to the Ministry and emphasized the importance of curbing prices for staple foods.
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