Current Condition of the Kazakhstan Currency KZT (as of Aug 2015)

Currently Kazakhstan is the 48th largest economy in the world, thanks mainly to natural resources that Russia inherited at the time of dissolution of the Soviet Union. In this separation the territory of Kazakhstan has just got a lot of fossil fuels and deposits of minerals and metals.

The country has, for instance the world's uranium reserves - widely used to generate electricity - and one of the largest oil reserves among the countries outside OPEC (group formed by the major oil producers and exporters in the world). Also Kazakhstan also has much natural gas is located in the Caspian Sea. Coal is also a natural source of wealth important to its economy.

A few years ago the country experienced good times in the economy, all thanks to business Russia and China as well as neighboring Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) to its natural resources, economic reform promoted by the government in the late 90, the good harvests of their agriculture (another important field of the economy), and the growth of foreign investment.

After its GDP shrunk more than 26% during the 90 years the country has enjoyed double-digit growth in 2000 and 2001, and about 8% or more per year between 2002 and 2007, enough to reach an enviable rate: The only country to double its GDP in less than 10 years.

The momentum experienced by the country fell in 2008, when GDP plunged 2.4% thanks to oil price declines and metals, and problems in the banking sector that followed the global financial crisis.

Most recovered, Kazakhstan's economy has, today, more than 9 million active workers, 26% in agriculture, 12% in services and 62% in industry. Unemployment has been falling and is currently at around 5% and its inflation at around 6-7%.

The diversification is also part of Kazakh economy. Toyota opened a factory in Kostanay in 2014 with a capacity of approximately 3000 vehicles manufactured annually, about 250 per month. This investment of the brand is due to the great development that the car industry is having in the country - only in 2014 were more than 2 billion dollars in cars that have been produced.

Besides the World Bank classify the country as one of the 20 best countries to invest this year, in 2015, the World Economic Forum released its global competitiveness ranking and Kazakhstan appeared in the 50th position among 144 countries. To form this ranking the IMF considers various factors such as market size, GDP, tax rates, infrastructure development, etc.

The expectations are the best possible since, in June 2014, the country's president signed a law allowing tax breaks for foreign investors, including an exception than 10 years to companies, eight years for those who buy properties and more than 10 years for a good amount of other fees. It seems that has already generated results because in July 2015 the country reported that attracted more than 16 billion in primary industry, putting into operation more than 400 new products such as the car industry, train transport, etc.