Kazakhstan’s PM sets targets for Attracting Foreign Investors

Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov wants to attract at least $24.4 billion of foreign investment to the national economy in 2023. He announced the plans at a Jan. 28 meeting of the Investment Headquarters under the PM’s Office to address target indicators for fixed capital investment and foreign direct investment, the Prime Minister’s press service reported.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Kazakh Invest National Company, and regional administrations should carry out proactive work in this direction. To achieve the targets, it is also necessary to strengthen cooperation with Kazakhstan’s foreign missions,” Smailov said.

In 2022, some 46 enterprises with foreign investors were launched in mechanical engineering, renewable energy, mining, metallurgy, agro-industrial complex, and other sectors in Kazakhstan, Deputy Foreign Minister Almas Aidarov said in his presentation at the meeting.

Foreign direct investments in the first nine months of 2022 reached $22.1 billion, a 17.8 percent rise compared to the same period in 2021.

The Netherlands, the United States, Switzerland, Belgium, Russia, South Korea, China, France, the United Kingdom, and Türkiye became Kazakhstan’s top investor countries in 2022.

According to Deputy Minister of National Economy Ilyas Userov, the volume of investments in fixed assets in 2022 reached 15.1 trillion tenge (US$32.7 billion), which is 7.9 percent more compared to 2021. A surge in property transactions, and the mining, agricultural, transportation and warehousing sectors became the main drivers of the growth.