Shymkent city entrepreneurs receive loan deferral of over US$30.7 million

More than 26,000 enterprises of Kazakhstan’s third metropolis, Shymkent, were exempted from taxes and other income deductions, mayor of the city Murat Aitenov announced at a press briefing. In his report, he focused on the implementation of the objectives set by the President of Kazakhstan in his state-of-the-nation address, in particular, to support entrepreneurs.

“In order to normalize the financial situation of entrepreneurs, we supported 1,482 organizations by deferring their loans for a total of 13 billion tenge (US$30.7 million). To date, there are more than 72,000 small and medium-sized businesses in the city, employing more than 160,000 people. The share of SMEs in the city’s gross regional product amounts to 28 percent,” informed the mayor.

Aitenov said that the city budget has almost doubled over the past year and comprised more than 455 billion tenge (US$1 billion). At the same time, nearly 9.5 billion tenge (US$22.4 million) was allocated to priority expenses related to the pandemic, including healthcare and education sectors. This became possible due to the optimization of the budget allocated to cultural and sporting events.