NUR-SULTAN – Kazakhstan’s foreign and internal trade showed a positive trend, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade and Integration Bakhyt Sultanov said at the meeting of the ministry’s board on July 29, reported the press service of the ministry.
One of the ministry’s top priorities is to increase non-resource exports. Photo credit: Kazakh Ministry of Trade and Integration.
Summarizing the results of the ministry’s work in the first half of 2022, Deputy Minister of Trade and Integration Janel Kushukova said that between January and May the country’s foreign trade turnover reached 51, $3 billion, with exports up 59% to $34.2 billion.
The European Union accounts for more than 30% of Kazakhstan’s foreign trade, according to the Bureau of National Statistics. The main trading partners were Italy, the Netherlands and France, accounting for $6.1 billion, $2.6 billion and $1.4 billion respectively.
“Kazakhstan’s trade turnover with member states of the Eurasian Economic Union in the first five months of 2022 amounted to $10 billion, almost 5% more than in the same period of 2021. We continue our efforts to remove barriers to Kazakh products in EAEU markets. country,” Kushukova said.
Domestic trade is also booming, according to Yerzhan Kazanbayev, chairman of the ministry’s trade committee. Between January and June, it reached 20.6 trillion tenge (43.1 billion dollars), of which 6.1 trillion tenge (12.8 billion dollars) was in retail trade and 14.5 trillion tenge (30. $4 billion) in wholesale.
Kazakhstan’s trade with the EAEU. Source: Office of National Statistics
Retail trade increased by 1.2% compared to the same period last year, with food products accounting for 32% of the total retail trade volume and non-food products – 67.1%. The largest increase in sales volume is in non-food products, particularly companies selling auto parts, oils and lubricants, knitwear and footwear, fuel, household appliances, pharmaceuticals and computers.
Kazanbayev said the trade committee has three areas of focus: improving state policy on trade development, developing trade infrastructure and implementing a common trade policy. Statement on Food Price Stabilization.
According to Sultanov, the trade committee should work closely with the Ministry of Agriculture on a comprehensive plan for the development of the sugar industry – a subject Sultanov addressed during his July 26 press briefing at the Central Service of communications. The document should include measures for a significant reduction in import dependence and a gradual transition to self-sufficiency, he said.
Among the nine digital projects piloted by the ministry, one is the establishment of a social wallet, an alternative to bank cards protected from sanctions by banks, collectors and the tax authorities. Each citizen will be able to open the social wallet in the National Bank system using their individual identification number without having to go to second-tier banks to open an account or renew a bank card.
The ministry is implementing this project together with the National Bank, the Ministry of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry and the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection. It should be commissioned by the end of the year, according to Sultanov.
“It will ensure the rapid creation of a digital tool for distributing social support funds to the population while monitoring the effectiveness of their use,” Sultanov said.
