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Eurasia
April 13, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 18
political analyst Yuri Kurnosov writes that “in the two previous cases, in 2005 and 2010, the presi- dents of the Kyrgyz Republic were betrayed at the most crucial moment by persons similarly loyal to them,” and notes that Atambayev presently has even less allies than his predecessors did when they were driven out of the country amid massive and violent protests.
Kazakhstan to put 280 companies up for sale in 2017
bne IntelliNews
Kazakhstan intends to put up for sale 280 compa- nies in 2017 and 84 in 2018, the official website of the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan reported, citing an April 10 briefing on privatisation programme progress by Economy Minister Timur Suleimenov.
The Kazakh government aims for a full or partial sell-off of 1,008 companies under its privatisa- tion plans until 2020. The companies include 217 units in direct ownership of the $67bn sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna or via its national company subsidiaries. Kazakhstan has sold 310 state-owned companies as part of its privatisation programme launched in 2014, which aims to re- duce the government’s participation in the coun- try’s economy to 15%, the finance ministry said on September 21.
Plans to offer for IPO/SPO the eight largest assets of the country have been moved back to 2019- 2020. These companies are Air Astana, uranium producer NAC Kazatomprom, Kazakhtelecom, oil and gas company NC KazMunayGas, JSC postal company Kazpost, energy company Samruk-
Atambayev has himself remarked that he would like to clean up the ranks of his own party, thus revealing his distrust of his apparent allies. “I’ve spent a lot of energy on [the party], I want it to be cleansed and refreshed, and for this I do not need to occupy any [political] position," he declared on March 24.
Energo, railway company NC Kazakhstan Temir Zholy, and mining company Tau-Ken Samruk.
Samruk-Kazyna has sold over 120 small and mid- sized firms by electronic auction and is prepar- ing larger firms for sale under its privatisation programme, Reuters reported last week, citing a managing director of the fund.
In 2015, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev ordered the government to expand the privatisa- tion plan in an attempt to reduce state involve- ment in the economy and to increase its com- petitiveness. Privatisation is also seen by Kazakh authorities as a way to revive the economy that has been hard hit by the low oil prices.
The Asian Development Bank said in its Asian Development Outlook 2017 published in April that it forecasts Kazakhstan's GDP to grow 2.4% in 2017 and 2.2% in 2018 compared with just 1.0% in 2016), reflecting continued fiscal spending
to stimulate consumption and investment, and higher earnings from oil exports.