Kazakhstan Expects Industrial Production to Rise Annual 7.5%

Kazakhstan expects industrial output to jump 7.5 percent this year on higher mining output and a “recovery in manufacturing,” Economic Development and Trade Minister Zhanar Aitzhanova said.

The ministry increased its forecast for mining industry output to 5.1 percent this year from 4.4 percent planned earlier, Aitzhanova told a Cabinet meeting in Astana today, according to an e-mailed statement. Industrial output rose an annual 1.7 percent last year as oil and gas output advanced.

Kazakhstan, which holds 3 percent of the world’s oil according to BP Plc, targets economic growth of 5 percent this year. The central Asian nation’s economy grew 1.2 percent last year and 3.2 percent in 2008, after averaging about 10 percent a year the previous 10 years.

Kazakhstan expects a current account surplus of $2.6 billion, or 2 percent of gross domestic product this year, Aitzhanova said, citing a forecast from the central bank today.

To contact the reporter on this story: Nariman Gizitdinov in Almaty at ngizitdinov@bloomberg.net

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