government in 1991 pushed privatization of the economy at a faster pace than
Russia's program. The ongoing transitional period - marked by sharp
inflation in wages and prices, lower output, lost jobs, and disruption of
time-honored channels of supply - has brought considerable social unrest.
Kazakhstan lacks the funds, technology, and managerial skills for a quick
recovery of output. US firms have been enlisted to increase oil output but
face formidable obstacles; for example, oil can now reach Western markets
only through pipelines that run across independent (and sometimes
unfriendly) former Soviet republics. Finally, the end of monolithic
Communist control has brought ethnic grievances into the open. The 6 million
Russians in the republic, formerly the favored class, now face the hostility
of a society dominated by Muslims. Ethnic rivalry will be just one of the
formidable obstacles to the creation of a productive, technologically
advancing society.
GDP:
purchasing power equivalent - $NA; per capita NA; real growth rate - 7%
(1991 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
83% (1991)
Unemployment rate:
NA%
Budget:
revenues $NA million; expenditures $NA million, including capital
expenditures of $1.76 billion (1991)
Exports:
$4.2 billion (f.o.b., 1991)
commodities:
oil, ferrous and nonferrous metals, chemicals, grain, wool, meat (1991)
partners:
Russia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan
Imports:
$NA million (c.i.f., 1990)
commodities:
machinery and parts, industrial materials
partners:
Russia and other former Soviet republics
External debt:
$2.6 billion (1991 est.)
Industrial production:
growth rate 0.7% (1991)
Electricity:
17,900,000 kW capacity; 79,100 million kWh produced, 4,735 kWh per capita
(1991)
Industries:
extractive industries (oil, coal, iron ore, manganese, chromite, lead, zinc,
copper, titanium, bauxite, gold, silver, phosphates, sulfur) iron and steel,
nonferrous metal, tractors and other agricultural machinery, electric
motors, construction materials
Agriculture:
employs 30% of the labor force; grain, mostly spring wheat; meat, cotton,
wool

:Kazakhstan Economy

Illicit drugs:
illicit producers of cannabis and opium; mostly for domestic consumption;
status of government eradication programs unknown; used as transshipment
points for illicit