Kazakhstan Majilis discussed Budget-2001

/IRBIS, Nov 10, 00/ - Today the Majilis, Lower House of the Kazakhstan parliament completed discussions over main parameters of the budget-2001. The draft was submitted to the Senate (upper house) without amendments and modifications. The deputies suggested to the government to re-evaluate projections over taxable income of the major Kazakhstan companies. They assume that receipts included in the budget are too low. They even proposed to conduct auditing until Dec 5 for two major companies: Kazakhstan Temir Zholy and Kazakhoil. The deputies offered to submit auditing results to the Majilis by Dec 06 and to invite the companies' heads for hearing. The Kazakhstan Temir Zholy is biggest taxpayer of the country and was named as a best taxpayer of year 1999. The Kazakhoil controls all state stakes in the major joint oil projects. Both companies regularly pass international audit procedure. It is still not clear how deep are the reasons for such examination. Deputies also offered to increase minimal pension to 4,000 from 3,955 proposed by the government and minimal wage from 3,480 to 6,000. The both increases will result in total deficit of KZT29,690.0 mln. Below are main parameters of the republican budget for year 2001 and some macroeconomic indicators. ------------------------------------------------------------ 2001 2000 -------------------------------------- ---------- ---------- Deficit (KZT, bln / in % to GDP) 55.8/2.2 62.4/2.7 Revenues (KZT, bln / in % to GDP) 406.2/16 347.5/16.9 Expenditures (KZT, bln / in % to GDP) 462.0/18.2 409.9/12.7 Annual inflation (%) 6-7 8-9 Annual average exchange rate (KZT/USD) 152.7 143.3 Refinancing rate (%) 8-10 14 GDP (%) +4.0 +5.0 Industrial production (%) +8.0 +8.0 Agriculture (%) +0.6 -7.0 Grain-crops harvest (million tons) 11.0 11.5-12.0 -------------------------------------- ---------- ---------- Using materials of Almaty office of REUTERS.