Experts on Kazakh President’s State-of-the-Nation Address

Kazakh President raised the issue of regional development in his State-of-the-Nation Address to the people. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev instructed to take appropriate measures to increase the financial independence of the regions and improve local self-government. Experts note that these tasks comply with the principles of the Listening State concept. Every citizen has the opportunity to contribute to the development of the society. The most important step was to introduce direct election of rural governors. In 2024, Kazakh citizens will have the opportunity to elect district governors in a pilot mode.

“If they will be accountable to the leadership as well as to the citizens, they will also have a greater desire to make decisions in favor of people, without waiting for responses from parent bodies. This was stated in the President’s State-of-the-Nation Address. The Head of State believes that it is not enough for higher authorities to put pressure so that the state apparatus would work properly. To be accountable to the population in one form or another can become that special way that will help Kazakhstan achieve modernization,” said Kirill Petrov, political scientist.

The Head of State also spoke about the minimum wage increase starting from 2022. It is expected to rise to 60,000 tenge from the current 42,500 tenge. The minimum wage increase will have a positive economic effect in the domestic consumption growth. This, according to experts, will lead to an increase in GDP by 1.5 percent.

“People don’t have enough money to invest in children, they don’t have enough money to simply save up, save for the future. I believe that this is a very timely measure that will really help Kazakh residents to increase their income,” said Aigul Rakisheva, Head, Center for Family Studies.

Translation by Saule Mukhamejanova

Editing by Galiya Khassenkhanova