AKIPRESS.COM - Kazakhstan’s GDP growth in 2019 was 4.5% due to increased demand on the consumer market, increased industrial production and increased investment activity, the FinReview reported.

According to forecasts, the average growth rate of Kazakhstan’s main trading partners – the European Union, China and Russia – fell from 3% in 2018 to 1.7% in 2019.

Despite the decline in global economic growth, Kazakhstan’s economy continued to strengthen. Thus, according to preliminary estimates, GDP growth was 4.5% in 2019. At the same time, GDP reached 44.3 trillion tenge in gross terms for nine months. While GDP per capita for the same period increased from 2.2 million tenge in 2018 to 2.4 million tenge in 2019.

The main driver of economic growth was the expansion of consumer and investment demand.

In addition, the key factor of the national economy growth was the country’s investment policy. At the end of 2019, investments in fixed assets increased by 12.7% over the year and amounted to 12.5 trillion tenge, while the inflow of foreign direct investment in the country for the first nine months of 2019 increased by 4.8% over the year to 18.4 billion US dollars.

The contribution of investment flows to the country’s economy is that the growth of FDI by 1 percentage point in a year may lead to an increase in gross output by 0.11 percentage points, and in two years, the accumulated effect may reach 0.15 percentage points. The effect of the growth of investment in fixed assets has been observed since the second quarter in the form of additional 0.07 percentage points to GDP, and in a year, the accumulated effect may reach 0.10 percentage points.

Mining and quarrying account for 15.7% of the total GDP. Moreover, the sector’s contribution to government revenues reached 44%. The three sectors also include wholesale and retail trade, as well as car and motorcycle repair – 15.6% and manufacturing industry – 11.7%. The other top five sectors with the largest share in GDP are transport and warehousing (7.7%), and real estate operations (6.8%).

Meanwhile, the largest economic growth is observed in the construction sector (+13.5% per year). In trade, volumes grew by 7.6% due to wholesale sales. In agriculture, livestock production increased by 3.5%. In the service sector, the growth was 4.4%. The growth in industry amounted to 3.3%. In the manufacturing industry, the largest growth was achieved in light industry, machine building, beverage production and pharmaceuticals.

 As a result, the World Bank forecasts that Kazakhstan’s GDP will grow by 3.7% in 2020, 3.9% in 2021 and 3.7% in 2022. While in Central Asia, the economic growth rate will be moderate, at 4.4% level.