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Eurasia
August 31, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 23
The supreme leader also called on the Iranian government to work "day and night" to resolve the country's growing economic difficulties. Rouhani on August 28 answered a summons from parliament to explain shortcomings blamed on him and his ministers.
The Iranian rial has lost more than half its value against the dollar in recent months, some
external reports claim inflation has risen past 200% and many big foreign companies that were present in Iran, including European enterprises, have made for the exit. Most would have been clearly exposed to US secondary sanctions
if they had stayed given connections to US financial markets, including capital raising activities, and assets.
Kazakhstan plans to maintain growth at 4.5-5% until 2025
bne IntelliNews
Kazakhstan's government said on August 28 that it is targeting an average annual economic growth rate of at least 4.5-5% until 2025, aiming to raise GDP per capita to $46,100, the official website of the prime minister of Kazakhstan stated.
The long-term goal of this plan is to achieve a life quality “comparable to OECD countries”. Kazakh- stan’s growth recovered to 4% in 2017, up from 1% in 2016, and has continuously been reported at 4%-4.1% in the past seven months. The govern- ment is currently placing efforts into diversifying the country away from over-reliance on oil exports with a focus on agriculture development for food exports to China, the transit of Chinese goods to Europe, oil refining for the export of oil products such as fuels and investment in manufacturing.
The country has been bringing the long-stalled modernisation of its three refineries to a close, with two refineries complete and one more set to finish by end-2018. Kazakhstan is also regearing its agriculture towards production of oilseeds away from wheat and for non-genetically modified crops.
"Ensuring the planned growth rate is a prerequisite for achieving the set goals. At the same time, GDP does not fully reflect the quality of life, the level of the real welfare of citizens and damage to the envi-
ronment,” said Minister of National Economy Timur Suleimenov. “In this connection, key national indica- tors measuring the quality of life of the population and the quality of economic growth are envisaged to measure progress on the way of the world’s top 30 developed countries and achieve the goal."
Suleimenov added that additional indicators will be added for measuring the development of sectors and regions including "productivity growth", "investment in fixed assets", and "the share of the non-observed economy", among others. The success of the state and local executive bodies will be measured based on the aforementioned indicators.
In order to achieve key national indicators of the Strategic Development Plan until 2025, a Strategic Map was developed in which the indicators are broken down by sector and region. Suleimenov said that the breakdown of key national indicators determined the contribution to the final result of each relevant central state and local executive body responsible for their achievement.
By sectors and regions, the most complex three indicators are: "productivity growth", "investment in fixed assets", and "the share of the non- observed economy."