Trade provides jobs for over 1.5 million people and half a million enterprises in Kazakhstan

This was stated at the first republican forum of deputies of maslikhats of all levels of the «AMANAT» party by Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Trade and Integration of Kazakhstan Serik Zhumangarin, speaking at a panel session together with Deputy of the Majilis Nurtai Sabilianov.

Serik Zhumangarin informed the deputies about the measures to support entrepreneurs engaged in foreign and domestic trade, and the steps taken to stabilize prices for socially important goods.

«The execution of the instructions of the Head of State, the election program of the «AMANAT», party, as well as the overall solution of the existing problems of the industry are important tasks of the Ministry of Trade», — S. Zhumangarin stressed.

For the successful promotion of non-primary Kazakhstani goods on the external track, a system of state support for exporters has been formed, consisting of 20 financial and non-financial instruments, and an export acceleration program is being implemented. According to the results of the first half of the year, the program participants signed export contracts for about $ 70 million. The acceptance of applications for participation in the program for this year has been completed, according to the results of which it is planned to select 110 new companies.

Since the beginning of this year, 6 trade missions have been organized. 110 Kazakhstani and more than 500 foreign companies took part in them. Export contracts for more than $330 million have been signed.

At the end of last year, within the framework of cost recovery, support was provided to more than 200 companies for 8.8 billion tenge.

Currently, active legislative work is underway to improve the ecosystem of export promotion. A draft law «On the Export Credit Agency», has been developed, which will expand the range of financial incentives provided to exporters.

5 border hubs aimed at the development of industrial cooperation have been identified: ICPC «Central Asia» (Kazakhstan – Uzbekistan), ITLC (Kazakhstan – Kyrgyzstan), CTT «Eurasia» (Kazakhstan – Russia), «Caspian» (Caspian regions), «Khorgos node» (Kazakhstan – PRC).

As for domestic trade, the format of the stabilization fund's activities has been changed to saturate the market during the off-season and prevent seasonal price fluctuations.

In order to reduce the inflation rate by 2 times, a fundamentally new approach has been developed. It is aimed at ensuring the stability of prices for goods that have a significant weight in the price index for socially important food products and supporting producers of these goods. This work will be spot-on.

«Last week, a rice fair was held in the Kyzylorda region, during which memoranda and agreements were signed between the SEC and producers for the supply of rice throughout the country in the amount of more than 7.6 thousand tons in the amount of 3 billion tenge. We will scale this work to all socially significant food products produced in our country», — eputy Prime Minister S. Zhumangarin informed.

As a result of the work carried out, the price index for socially significant goods has been formed at the level of 4.3% since the beginning of the year, which is 4 times less than the same period last year.

Serik Zhumangarin focused special attention on the ongoing work on the modernization of markets, noting that a Roadmap for the modernization of trade markets until 2025 has been developed for clear planning and coordination of all participants. However, today it is necessary to synchronize the deadlines for all regions by legislating a new modernization deadline.

Following the results of the speech, the participants of the panel session asked questions about financial support for entrepreneurs and manufacturers, measures taken to curb inflation, agricultural development, and others.