President Tokayev announces new support to population, SMEs and agriculture

Kazakhstan is adopting new measures to support the population and the economy due to the state of emergency caused by the spread of coronavirus. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev announced the new package on March 31 in a televised address.

First of all, the Government will index  pensions and state benefits by 10% in annual terms. For this, the budget will allocate more than 200 billion tenges ($450 million).

The state will expand the coverage of the population with additional social payments in the amount of one minimum wage (42,500 tenges or $95). “I believe that this money should be received not only by those who previously had official work and salaries. We need to help our citizens who were and are self-employed or worked informally,” the President explained. Support measures, in general, will cover about 3 million people.

The system of compulsory social health insurance will guarantee the right of uninsured citizens to receive medical care until July 1.
The President also announced the expansion of the list of categories of citizens who should be provided with free grocery and household sets. Such a package of assistance will be additionally provided to persons with disabilities of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd groups, disabled children, and officially registered unemployed.
A separate package of measures concerns agriculture, given the upcoming spring field works. The budget will direct a total of 170 billion tenges ($380 million) to farmers in the form of soft loans. The President emphasized the importance of supporting small and medium-sized farms. Besides, the price of diesel fuel for agricultural producers will be reduced to 165 tenges (0.37 dollars) per liter or 15% of the market price. The Government will provide about 390 thousand tons of diesel fuel at a reduced price.

“For food security, every day is critically important,” Tokayev emphasized. The government and local authorities will ensure the guaranteed purchase of products from agricultural and processing enterprises at least six months in advance.

The government and local authorities will also launch projects that will employ people in regions who have lost earnings due to the quarantine of large cities. The state will provide the allowance on appointment in the amount of two minimum wages or 85,000 tenges ($190) immediately after arriving at the place of work.
Earlier, the President announced measures to support small and medium-sized enterprises, including tax preferences, payment deferrals on loans, and much more. Among the new measures is the abolition of taxes and other payments from the payroll fund for six months. This rule applies to the foodservice industry, some sectors of trade, transport, consulting services, IT, hotel business, tourism, etc. The governmental commission on the state of emergency will approve the list and be updating it as necessary.

Also, the Government has suspended the payment of all taxes for SMEs for three months.

Kazakhstan is working with partners in the Eurasian Economic Union in terms of zeroing import duties for the essential imports. The decision on personal protective equipment, raw materials for their production, vaccines, diagnostic kits has already been made. Work continues to reduce import duties on several food products for which the country is not self-sufficient, the President said.