Kazakhstan Still Targets 6% GDP Growth as Tax Drop Triggers Cuts

Kazakhstan reiterated its 6 percent economic-growth forecast for this year even as falling corporate-tax revenue prompted the government to cut spending.

Corporate taxes will fall 229.9 billion tenge ($1.5 billion) short of the previous plan, Economy and Budget Planning Minister Erbolat Dosayev told a Cabinet meeting today in Astana, according to an e-mailed copy of his speech. Budget revenue will be 3.588 trillion tenge, 226.1 billion tenge less than envisaged earlier, he said, confirming a 121.3 billion-tenge reduction in spending to 6.1 trillion tenge.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development cut Kazakhstan's 2013 growth forecast this month to 4.9 percent from 6 percent in January. The reduction reflects weaker expansion in neighboring Russia and delays in new energy projects, the EBRD said on its website.

By Nariman Gizitdinov - May 14, 2013 12:55 PM GMT
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