o the private sector. The December 1996 signing of the Caspian
Pipeline Consortium agreement to build a new pipeline from western
Kazakhstan's Tengiz oil field to the Black Sea increases prospects for
substantially larger oil exports in several years. Kazakhstan's
economy turned downward in 1998 with a 2.5% decline in GDP growth due
to slumping oil prices and the August financial crisis in Russia. A
bright spot in 1999 was the recovery of international oil prices,
which, combined with a well-timed tenge devaluation and a bumper grain
harvest, pulled the economy out of recession.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $54.5 billion (1999 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 1.7% (1999 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $3,200 (1999 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 10%
industry: 30%
services: 60% (1999 est.)

Population below poverty line: 35% (1999 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 3.1%
highest 10%: 24.9% (1993)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 8.3% (1999 est.)

Labor force: 8.8 million (1997)

Labor force - by occupation: industry 27%, agriculture and forestry
23%, other 50% (1996)

Unemployment rate: 13.7% (1998 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $3.1 billion
expenditures: $3.6 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA
(1999 est.)

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

Industrial production growth rate: 2.2% (1998 est.)

Electricity - production: 49.299 billion kWh (1998)

Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 87.73%
hydro: 12.07%
nuclear: 0.2%
other: 0% (1998)

Electricity - consumption: 48.822 billion kWh (1998)

Electricity - exports: 400 million kWh (1998)

Electricity - imports: 3.374 billion kWh (1998)

Agriculture - products: grain (mostly spring wheat), cotton; wool,
livestock

Exports: $5.2 billion (1999 est.)

Exports - commodities: oil 40%, ferrous and nonferrous metals,
machinery, chemicals, grain, wool, meat, coal

Exports - partners: EU 32%, China 29%, Russia 29% (1998)

Imports: $4.8 billion (1999 est.)

Imports - commodities: machinery and parts, industrial materials, oil
and gas, vehicles

Imports - partners: Russia 39%, Ukraine, US, Uzbekistan, Turkey, UK,
Germany, South Korea (1998)

Debt -