Page 7 - Kazakh Outlook 2024

the oil and non-oil sectors, while the impact of the war in Ukraine remains limited. Inflation has dropped since it peaked at 21% in February and is projected at about 10 percent by the end of 2023.”
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) anticipates Kazakhstan’s GDP growth will register at 3.7% in 2023 and 4.1% in 2024, from 3.2% last year.
2.2 Inflation and monetary policy
The Kazakh central bank said in December that annual inflation slowed in November to 10.3% from 10.8% in October. The country has experienced double-digit inflation for the past few years due to the combined effects of the COVID-19 crisis and the war in Ukraine, including the resulting Western sanctions on Moscow. Nevertheless, inflation has slowed this year from the 20.3% registered in December 2022.
The central bank expects annual inflation to decrease to below 10% in the coming months.
The regulator also announced a reduction in its main interest rate from 16% to 15.75% on November 25. The decrease continued a trend of reducing interest rates, marked a third consecutive cut and maintained the central bank's longest period of monetary easing in five years.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) cautioned against premature policy loosening, urging the central bank to wait for inflation to slow closer to the 5% target prior to making cuts.
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