Kazakhstan sees industrial output falling by 0.3 percent this year, its worst level in 17 years, after a 0.2 percent rise in 2014, the National Economy Ministry said on Thursday.
Kazakhstan, the second-largest post-Soviet oil producer after Russia, has been hit by plunging world oil prices and by an economic crisis in Russia, a close trading partner.
Kazakhstan’s oil output fell by 1.2 percent to 80.8 million tonnes in 2014 and is set to shrink further this year, while the giant offshore Kashagan oilfield is not expected to restart production before the end of 2016.
“In line with our estimates and taking into account economic growth of 1.5 percent this year, industrial production is set to decrease by 0.3 percent,” National Economy Minister Yerbolat Dosayev told journalists.
“These are the objective data we have today,” he said.
Industrial output in Kazakhstan, Central Asia’s largest economy, last shrank more than 0.3 percent in 1998 when it fell by 6.2 percent.
In a separate report sent to parliament, Dosayev also said the country’s industrial output growth could reach 2 percent a year by 2019, but gave no details.
Kazakhstan expects gross domestic product growth to slow to 1.5 percent this year from 4.3 percent in 2014.
Reuters
