/REUTERS, Almaty, November 11, 05/ - Kazakhstan's gross domestic product (GDP) growth slowed to 8.9 percent in January-September in year- on-year terms from a 9.1-percent rise in the same period of last year, the State Statistics agency said on Friday. The Central Asian state's GDP was worth 5.17 trillion tenge ($38.5 billion) in the first nine months of this year, the agency said.

Kazakhstan's fast GDP growth, which has measured an average 10 percent annual in the last five years, is fuelled by high world prices for the steppe nation's oil and metal exports.

The statistics agency said industrial output had expanded by 4.2 percent in January-September in year-on-year terms, while agriculture has grown by 7.4 percent, commerce by 9.0 percent, transport and communications by 9.5 percent and construction industry soared by 38.8 percent.

GDP is set to rise by 8.3 percent in 2006 after this year's expected growth of 8.8 percent.

[2005-11-11]