March 6 (Bloomberg) -- Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev promised to spend 600 billion tenge ($4 billion) of oil revenue to bolster economic growth.

It’s “right” to spend the revenue expected in 2009 and 2010 on “a new plan for further economic modernization” and controlling unemployment, Nazarbayev said today in his annual address to the nation in Astana, according to state-run Kazinform. Kazakhstan will keep its foreign currency and gold reserves of $47 billion, he said.

The government announced a $4 billion bank bailout in November, part of a planned 2.2 trillion tenge stimulus package to prevent the economy from contracting.

The central bank devalued the tenge by 18 percent last month for the first time since it started managing the currency in 2007, after draining $3.5 billion, or 16 percent, of its foreign currency reserves.

To contact the reporter on this story: Nariman Gizitdinov in Almaty, via the Moscow newsroom at +7- ngizitdinov@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: March 6, 2009 02:17 EST