Kazakh PM: ‘Economy of Simple Things’ Program Proved its Efficiency

 The ‘Economy of Simple Things’ program proved its efficiency as an investment tool for the development of domestic production. On the instructions of the Head of State, the total funding of the program was increased to one trillion tenge (US$2.3 billion), Kazakh Prime Minister Askar Mamin announced at a government meeting.

“Despite the current pandemic, we see that the number of projects this year has increased more than 2.5 times, from 900 to 2,600 projects, and their total amount has increased 3.5 times, from 216 billion tenge (US$515.5 million) to 700 billion tenge (US$1.6 billion),” said Kazakh Prime Minister Askar Mamin.

In addition, as noted at the meeting, Kazakh residents began to buy things made in Kazakhstan more often. Their production increased by 2.5 percent this year. As a result, the import share declined as well. The main domestic products that are in demand among the population are food, furniture, building materials and clothing.

“Effective measures were developed to support domestic producers, resulting in a twofold increase of the share of local content compared to last year. This made it possible to support more than 1,500 domestic enterprises and has generally resulted in the industrial development and creation of new jobs. It should be noted that there was a strong growth of local content in the purchase of products in the following sectors: light industry from 38 to 68 percent, furniture industry from 39 to 71 percent, food industry from 41 to 74 percent, building materials from 34 to 71 percent,” said Askar Mamin.

Mamin also instructed to develop the seventh package of amendments to the program of concessional lending ‘The Economy of Simple Things’ within a month. They will include new incentives for entrepreneurs, including increased guarantees from the state.