02 July 2014, ASTANA. KAZINFORM - Yerbolat Dossayev, Minister of Economy and Budget Planning, reported to the President on the economic results of the first phase of the FIID program (2010-2014).

According to Dossayev, the first five-year plan was aimed at the development of a wide range of industries including basic industries, manufacturing, transport and energy infrastructure, small and medium business. 

"The program has helped to keep positive growth rates of production and provided employment during the global financial crisis", said Y. Dossayev. 

Minister recalled that about KZT 3.7 trillion was allocated for the implementation of FIID within 2010-2013. In addition, investment projects' realization attracted more than USD 2.4 trillion of private investments. Yerbolat Dossayev noted that in the last 5 years the real growth in manufacturing has reached 24.5%. 

As for future plans, the head of the Ministry informed that in order to meet the challenges set out in "Kazakhstan-2050" Strategy, we should actively implement a state program of industrial-innovative development for 2015-2019, taking into account the positive experience and the shortcomings of the first phase of industrialization. 

The program will focus on six priority sectors including manufacturing which should become a driver for export potential growth, traditional (raw material) industry which should ensure macroeconomic stability, innovative sector that should create new sources and foundations of sustainable economy, services capable of providing mass employment and flow of labor from low-productivity sectors to sectors with higher levels of productivity and income, as well as transport and energy sector. 

According to the Minister of Economy and Budget Planning, the program will focus not only on the diversification of industries but on the diversification of trading partners and the range of goods and services for export. ADB (Asian Development Bank) experts inform that at present Kazakhstan exports only 127 products, while it has comparative advantage in relation to other countries. 

Kazakhstan has the potential to double the number of exported goods to 300 which will allow it to reach the level of such countries as Brazil, Chile, and Russia. 

In addition, for the implementation of the second five-year plan there has been developed an extensive toolkit of financial support for industrial enterprises and private sector as a whole, including recovery of the banking sector, active involvement of new investments and expansion of public-private partnership.