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Country Profile: Kazakhstan
FactfileCapitalAstanaLargest cityAlmatyOther citiesAktas, Esik, Chu, Turkestan, Talgar, KazalyOfficial languageRussianState languageKazakhArea2, 724, 900 sq kmPopulation16,402,861 (2009 est.)CurrencyTenge |
Languages
Kazakh is the official state language of Kazakhstan, spoken by 10 million people. The language is written in the Cyrillic alphabet; however, in 2006, the country's president suggested swapping to the Latin alphabet. Studies have shown that this switch would be feasible within 10 to 12 years, however the government decided that they would remain with the traditionally written version of the language. Russian, however, is the official language and is used in most business matters.
Economy
Kazakhstan's GDP is approximately $167.6 billion, but the government plans to triple that by 2015. Fifty percent of the labour force works in the service sector, and the rest is split roughly equally between the industrial and agricultural sectors. Major industries include oil, coal, iron ore, metals and arigicultural machinery, with the country's main trading partners including Russia, Bermuda, China, Germany, China and France. Kazakhstan predicts that it will be the world's chief exporter of uranium by 2010. Agriculture is an important sector of the economy - with products such as wheat, barley, cotton, rice, as well as dairy and poultry being produced. Kazakhstan is alleged to be the home of the apple.
The country's money policy is considered well-managed, and its economy stable: in 2000 it became the first former Soviet country to pay all of its debt to the IMF. The country's banking system is expanding extremely quickly, and in 1998 it implemented an ambitious pension reform programme.
Energy
The country's leading economic sector is energy, due to the widespread production of oil and natural gas in the country. Kazakhstan's natural resources are predominantly made up of fossil fuels, and this fact has led to almost all of the $40 million foreign investment the country has attracted. There are some 2.7 billion tons of oil to be found in the country, but only 3 refineries - therefore there is not the capability for the refinement of the sheer volume of resource, and for this reason much of the crude oil is shipped to Russia. Because of its huge amounts of natural reserves, Kazakhstan's energy policy has worldwide implications, combined with its geographical location which can control the traffic of oil and gas between East and West.
In terms of renewable energy, Kazakhstan has 5 working hydroelectric plants which produce around a tenth of the country's energy, and there are plans to build a new nuclear power plant.
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