Friday, December 8, 2023
 
 

Coronavirus negatively impacts Kazakhstan’s economy

EPA PHOTO/ANATOLY USTINENKO/FILE PICTURE
A worker passes by a section of the pipeline in Atyrau in Kazakhstan.

- Advertisement -

NUR-SULTAN, Kazakhstan – Kazakhstan in February received less than 2.1 billion tenge ($5.49 million) of customs duties and taxes from importing goods from China, Kazakhstan’s First Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Alikhan Smailov told a government meeting on 10 March.
According to Smailov, one of the reasons is the outbreak of coronavirus in China.
“In February of this year, compared with February 2019, imports from China decreased by 11%, and its physical volume decreased by 27%. As a result, customs duties and taxes from importing goods from China decreased by 12%, or by 2.1 billion tenge,” he said.
A decrease in the number of motor vehicles arriving from China by 24% and railway transport by 14% has been observed over the past two months, he said. In addition, a 20% decrease in the number of vehicles importing goods from the EAEU countries was recorded in February.
Another revenue loss factor Kazakhstan’s budget was a decline in prices in foreign markets, Smailov said, adding that copper fell by 6%, aluminum by 5%, zinc by 10% and lead by 3%.
Kazakhstan, which is oil production country with about 90 million tonnes in 2019, also received less revenues because of declining oil prices due to coronavirus and problems with oil export from Kazakhstan to China, which was actually stopped due to contamination of the pipeline with organochlorine.
This also caused problems on other export routes. According to Reuters, Kazakhstan reduced the March plan for exporting crude oil from the Russian port of Ust-Luga in the Baltic from 800,000 tonnes to 600,000. In February, Kazakh producers exported only 500,000 tonnes through Ust-Luga. The reason is that the Chinese company CNPC-Aktobemunaigas, in the oil of which an excess of organochlorine compounds was detected, still has not restored the pre-crisis production level. For the same reason, part of the export volumes of Kazakhstan’s Energy Ministry was redistributed for processing at domestic refineries. The common border of Kazakhstan with China is 1,460 kilometres.

- Advertisement -

Subscribe to our newsletter

Latest

Don't miss

Ukraine’s persecuted mayor

Lest it be forgotten, the major thematic issue in post-Maidan and pre-war Ukraine was, and continues to be, the transformation of Ukrainian society along...

Cameron’s return as Foreign Secretary raises UK’s international profile

David Cameron, who was made foreign secretary in a surprise move by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak during his cabinet reshuffle on November 13, brings...

Russia’s powerful economic levers over Armenia

Armenia's relations with its strategic partner Russia are getting worse and worse and its leaders seem to desire a shift in geopolitical orientation towards the West....

Economy Minister says Kazakhstan to expand investment and diversify trade with Europe

Kazakhstan’s Minister of National Economy, Alibek Kuantyrov, spoke to NE Global in an exclusive interview about his country's relations with Europe, Astana's economic partners,...

Meeting conditions for Georgia’s EU accession is a tall order for Tbilisi

The European Commission’s provisional endorsement of Georgia’s EU chances contained a not-so-subtle message couched in diplomatic jargon: Tbilisi must forge a stronger national consensus...

New US actions against corruption and Russian malign influence in the Western Balkans

On November 16, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, known by its acronym OFAC, designated eight individuals and six...

The EU Green Deal is a barrier to trade and global partnerships

There is an English saying that if you can’t see the wood for the trees, then you should step back and then you will...

Kazakhstan accelerating efforts to expand the strategic Middle Corridor

The Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, which is frequently referred to as the Middle Corridor, is a multilateral institutional development project linking the containerized rail...