AKIPRESS.COM - Inflation in Kazakhstan is projected to rise to 11.5% in 2014 and then slow to 8.8% in 2015 as the effect of the devaluation ebbs over time, the Asian Development Bank's outlook for 2014 on Fiscal Policy for Inclusive Growth said.

Prices are projected to rise in 2014 by 8.1% for food and 18.6% for other items, which are mainly imported, and by an estimated 6.6% for food and 11.8% for other items in 2015. Prices for services should rise by 8.4% each year.

The augmented republican budget deficit is expected to expand to 2.8% of GDP in 2014. Revenues are projected to reach 15.7% of GDP, reflecting mainly higher revenues from corporations, including a 33.0% increase in the crude oil excise from $60 to $80 per ton.

Expenditure is forecast to expand to 18.5% of GDP on increases in social benefits, pensions, and public wages granted to mitigate hardship caused by devaluation. For 2015, revenues are forecast at 13.8% of GDP, expenditures at 16.2%, and the deficit at 2.4%.

A unified state pension fund with assets estimated at $22 billion is to emerge by the middle of 2014 from the merger of 10 private pension funds. The government is considering another sovereign eurobond issue to provide a benchmark for the corporate sector and refinance debt due in 2014 and 2015.