/REUTERS, November 25, 05/ - Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev expects the Central Asian state's gross domestic product (GDP) to expand by 9.0 percent this year, Interfax news agency quoted him as telling foreign investors on Friday.

The government had earlier said it expected the economy to grow by 8.8 percent this year after a 9.4-percent rise in 2004.

Kazakhstan's GDP has grown by an average of 10 percent a year in the last five years, largely owing to high world prices for its oil and metals.

Nazarbayev, hosting the Foreign Investors' Council on Friday, is widely expected to win a new seven-year term in an election due on Dec. 4.

[2005-11-25]