The Republic of Kazakhstan is situated in Central Asia, bordered to the north by Russia, on its east is China, south is Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan and to its west is Russia and the Caspian Sea. The capital city is Astana. Other major cities include Almaty, which was the former capital; Oaraghandy; Shymkent; Semey and Pavlodar.
The official language is Kazakh however Russian is the most widely spoken language. The local currency is the tengge (T).
The international time zone for Kazakhstan is GMT +5 for Central, GMT + 6 for East and GMT +4 for west. The country practices daylight savings and the times are GMT + 6; + 7; + 5 respectively during the summer. The international dialing code is + 7. There is an international airport at Almaty. Most visitors require visas to enter the country.
The state of health, the current immunisation status, location and the local disease situation lead to risk of contraction of typhoid, malaria, yellow fever and polio. Water is untreated and not safe to drink.
In 1998 Kazakhstan was a part of the multilateral agreement known as the Baku Declaration to develop the transport corridor through closer economic integration of member countries, that include Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey, and Uzbekistan. The corridor is to include all methods of transport including air, pipeline, sea and road.
President Nursultan Nazarbayev was elected with a 91% majority to the position of president. Nursultan Nazarbayev who has been in office since Kazakhstan became independent, won a new 7-year term in the 1999 election. In his reign as president he made Astana the capital of Kazakhstan, the capital city was previously Almaty.
Kazakhstan has a population of approximately 15 million people who speak mainly Kazakh and Russian. The people of Kazakhstan are proud of their tradition and culture, they hold their customs in high esteem. The Kazakh national dress varies by regions, men wear “chapans”, a kind of dressing gown with a belt, made of velvet and richly embroidered. They cover their heads wiyh a soft skullcap known as “tobetai”, a tall felt cap known as “kalpak” or a fox fur hat with earflaps known as “malakai”. The women’s national costume consists of a white cotton or colored silk dress, a velvet waistcoat with embroidery and a cap or a silk scarf. Elderly women wear a hood made of white cloth with a hole for the face known as “the kimeshek”. Brides wear a tall pointed ,richly decorated hat, topped with feathers known as “saukele”.
The Kazakhs love the art of words and their akyns (poets), who improvise at aitys (public competitions), accompanied by national stringed musical instruments the dombra or the kobyz. The people of Kazakhstan also enjoy their national games, these are usually performed on horse back and are an opportunity to witness the Kazakhs’ outstanding riding skills. Kazakhstan also has national games namely Kazakh wrestling which is known as “Kazaksha kures”, horse racing which is known as “baiga”, “kokpar” which is a sort of polo game played with a dead goat, “kyz-kuu (catch the girl) and alty bakan
Kazakhstan’s economy centers on exports of crude oil, base metals, chemicals, food and agriculture. The exports for 2004 stood at US$18.47 billion.
Kazakhstan’s economy grew by 9.1% in 2004, it was kept afloat by high world oil prices. GDP grew 9.2% in 2003, 9.5% in 2002 and 13.2% in 2001. Kazakhstan’s monetary policy has been well managed. In 2004 inflation remained steady at 6.9%, from 6.8% in 2003. Kazakhstan became the former Soviet Republic to repay all of its debt to the IMF in 2000. In September 2002, Kazakhstan received an investment-grade credit rating from a major international credit rating agency. As of late December 2003, Kazakhstan's gross foreign debt was about US$22.9 billion, total government debt was US$4.2 billion. This amounted to 14% of the country’s GDP. The upturn in economic growth, combined with the results of earlier tax and financial sector reforms, dramatically improved government finances from the 1999 budget deficit level of 3.5% of GDP to a deficit of 1.2% of GDP in 2003. Government revenues grew from 19.8% of GDP in 1999 to 22.6% of GDP in 2001, but decreased to 16.2% of GDP in 2003. On November 29, 2003 the Law on Changes to Tax Code was adopted, which reduced tax rates-- value added tax from 16% to 15%, social tax from 21% to 20%, and personal income tax from 30% to 20%. Kazakhstan furthered its reforms by adopting a new land code on June 20, 2003 and a customs code on April 5, 2003. At present a budget code is being adopted by the Parliament of Kazakhstan.
The oil industry in Kazakhstan is significant as it the second largest oil producer among former Soviet republics, after Russia. The most important oil field is the Tengiz oil field that is estimated to contain 6-9 billion barrels. Other important fields are Uzen, and Karachaganak. Kazakhstan produces over half a million barrels of oil a day.
Kazakhstan has made many joint venture partnerships with Kazakh partners to explore for fields, however full use of the country’s oil and gas sector is hindered by the lack of pipeline integration. The country has to import energy consumption needs from Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, to distribute amongst its populous areas and export oil and gas and electricity through Russia.
Kazakhstan contains large quantities of coal, chromium, gold, tungsten, copper, lead, and zinc. The mining industry is the second largest earner for the country. Kazakhstan is a major coal producer, consumer, and exporter. The major coal producing areas are centred in the Karaganda and Ekibastuz basins. Karaganda has 13 mines. Coal production has fallen over the last two years and production for the first eight months of 1999 declined by 30% compared with the same period in 1998.
During the Soviet years Kazakhstan underwent major developments in its mining and metallurgical sectors, however after dissolution this discontinued and the mining industry suffered. Attempts are being made to increase foreign investment and involvement in the sector.
In recent years foreign investment in Kazakhstan has increased particularly in the oil and gas industry. Kazakhstan has moved away from trade with the former Soviet countries and towards those countries in central Asia and with Turkey. In 1993 the TRACECA Program (Transport System Europe-Caucasus-Asia, informally known as the Great Silk Road) was launched to encourage the development of a transport corridor on an East-West axis.
The manufacturing industry in Kazakhstan is also an important one and is centred on refining ores and creating petrochemicals. Other manufacturing activities include producing machinery, processing agricultural products and light manufacturing.
Kazakhstan has rich deposits of chromium, coal, copper, gold, iron ore, tungsten, uranium, vanadium and zinc. Coal mining, which has declined sharply in the post-Soviet era, is centered in the North-Central Karaganda (Qaraghandy) Province. Copper mining, which has received substantial South Korean investment, is centered in the Dzhezkazgan (Zhezqazghan) Province directly South of Karaganda. Phosphates are mined in Dzhambul and Chimkent (Zhambyl and Shymkent) Provinces along the southern border. Gold deposits have not been fully exploited.
Oil and Gas still remain Kazakhstan’s major industries thus making the sectors very attractive to investments. The extraction, production and transportation of oil are an important part of Kazakhstan’s revenue. The Caspian Basin is one of the world’s largest unexploited hydrocarbon reserves. In the past years Kazakhstan has produced roughly around 1.09 million barrels oil per day and 565 billion cubic feet of gas.
The largest deposits of explored oil reserves are located in the Tengiz, Zhetybai, Kalamkas and Uzen fields in the Caspian Region, the Karachaganak and Zhanazhol fields in North-Western Kazakhstan, the Kumkol field in Central Kazakhstan and the Kashagan fields in in the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea. It is estimated that the Karachaganak field contains 1.236 billion tons of liquids and 1.371 trillion cubic meters of gas in place which is equivalent to 17.78 billion barrels of oil equivalent
The government of Kazakhstan encourages foreign direct investment in the oil and gas sector. Major international oil companies and smaller independent companies compete for the acquirement of additional exploration and production rights.
The Kazakhstan banking system is developing rapidly, the National Bank has introduced deposit insurance in its campaign to strengthen the banking sector. Several major banks have branches in Kazakhstan including ABN-AMBRO and HSBC.
Kazakhstan’s main exports products include oil, base metals, chemicals, food and agriculture. The main export industry is oil, it accounted for 65% of total exports in 2004. Agriculture is another growing industry in Kazakhstan, grain and livestock being the most important commodities. Kazakhstan is the sixth largest producer in the world of grain. Agricultural land occupies more than 84.6 million hectares. Chief livestock products are dairy goods, leather, meat and wool. The country's major crops include wheat, barley, cotton and rice. Wheat exports, a major source of hard currency, ranked among the leading commodities in Kazakhstan's export trade. In 2003 Kazakhstan harvested 17.6 million tons of grain in gross, 2.8% higher compared to 2002.
