The second meeting of the Expert Council under the Ministry of National Economy was dedicated to discussing the financing of the real sector of the economy. It was attended by 20 people, half of whom were independent experts.

As Vice-Prime Minister – minister of national economy Serik Zhumangarin noted, the active start of financing the real sector of the economy is the third stage of economic reform aimed at increasing Kazakhstan's GDP. The first is the adoption of the new Budget Code, the second is work on the draft Tax Code.

Vice-Minister of national economy Arman Kasenov spoke about the government's main initiatives for financing projects in the real sector of the economy.

Currently, the ratio of investment to GDP is at the level of 14-15% and is objectively low. To achieve higher rates of economic growth and the task set by the Head of State – to bring GDP to $450 billion by 2029 – investments should increase by 2,75 times, from $40 billion in 2024 to $103 billion in 2029. And this needs to be ensured through initiatives that the government is now proposing – to allocate 1 trillion tenge through Baiterek Holding to provide business lending for 8 trillion tenge», - said the vice-minister.

In addition to increasing the volume of investments in investment projects, the vice-minister outlined another, no less important problem – the lack of a sufficient number of high-quality investment projects.

The problem of financing is a partial problem. Another significant one is the shortage of quality projects. This is also noted by international financial development institutions. And when we talk about increasing project financing from $40 billion to $103 billion, we understand that the task is not only in finance, but also in the quality of investments», - emphasized Arman Kasenov.

The main points of growth are high-performance export-oriented projects. These are metal processing, oil and gas, agriculture and food production, petrochemistry and coal chemistry, and others.

Head of Baiterek Holding Rustam Karagoishin spoke about the holding's financing model, which includes 60% market funding and 40% budget lending. In 2025, the total volume of financing from Baiterek will amount to 8 trillion tenge, of which 3,75 trillion tenge will be provided in national currency at a rate of 12,6%, 2.25 trillion also in national currency at a market rate, and 2 trillion in foreign currency.

Our main task is to unify rates at 12.6% for the final consumer. This unification will allow second-tier banks to participate in almost all areas where Baiterek is present today, - Rustam Karagoishin noted. - Over time, when the base rate decreases to an acceptable level, banks will take the lion's share of financing the economy. And Baiterek and other development institutions will become a kind of instrument for large-scale niche projects focused on export.

Many questions and suggestions were voiced by independent experts. In particular, CEO of AERC Zhanibek Aigazin asked how the priority of projects for preferential financing is determined and how they are evaluated from the point of view of return on investment and contribution to GDP growth. The share of the manufacturing industry in GDP is 12%, and this share is not growing significantly, despite our efforts. He suggested paying special attention to the development and expansion of infrastructure capacity, which, in his opinion, will have a greater overall effect on the economy, since we all use infrastructure.

Serik Zhumangarin replied that agriculture, mining, and trade provide the greatest return on investment in terms of GVA today. Transport and warehousing are emerging as active growth drivers. Priority in financing through Baiterek will be given to projects for creating high value-added products in metallurgy, petrochemistry and coal chemistry, food production, IT, AI, logistics and others. And for infrastructure development, there is a national infrastructure plan, according to which it is planned to modernize, build and repair 13 thousand km of roads, repair about 1480 km of railway tracks and build new railway lines already this year.

Source : https://www.gov.kz/memleket/entities/economy/press/news/details/962390?lang=kk