Surplus of Kazakhstan current account in the I quarter 2003 is record $626 m

/REUTERS, Almaty, July 02, 03/ - Surplus of the current account of Kazakhstan in the first quarter of 2003 totaled $626 m, having reached the maximal amount due to export growth, the National Bank informed. "By results of the first quarter of 2003 the highest quarter figure of net Kazakhstan export for our country was fixed - over $1.3bn, - is said in the news release of the National Bank, which was distributed on Wednesday. - It more than compensated the substantial increase in import of international services and expenditures on payment of revenues to direct investors". In the first quarter of 2002 the surplus of the current account of Kazakhstan, which exported generally oil and metals, totaled $31.1m, as for the whole 2002 the deficit of $596 m appeared. [2003-07-02]