ASTANA. October 8. KAZINFORM /Muratbek Makulbekov/ Minister of Economy and Budget Planning Bakhyt Sultanov has met with the members of the Senate Committee for finances and budget today. The Minister informed the Committee of peculiarities of counter-cyclical fiscal policy in the crisis period and noted necessity of pursuing such policy in Kazakhstan which economy depends primarily on world conjuncture of oil prices. "The amendments introduced into the tax legislation are directed on diversification of economy and stimulation of economic growth. Amid economic decline business must be provided additional opportunities for development and we have done it through lowering tax rates. We forecasted that as a result of cutting tax rates the businessmen would save around KZT 500 bln to overcome the difficulties and invest in various projects", the Minister said. As for the primary sector, Sultanov said the Ministry would reconsider the amount of taxes on mineral resources extraction since corporate income tax remains at 20% in the next year budget. As is known, the new Tax Code of Kazakhstan provides for replacement of royalty taxes with taxes on mineral resources extraction. Those subsoil users who develop low-gain deposits are provided with preferential rates. In 2009 the tax rate was fixed at 5-18% for different deposits. In 2010 the Government planned to raise the tax by 1% for all deposits.