Economics

Over the years of independence, Kazakhstan has implemented a series of broad-based reforms that have transformed it from a planned to a market economy. The result is a liberal economy with advanced market-based infrastructure, a stable national currency, the Tenge, and one of the most progressive financial and economic systems among the post-Soviet countries.
Kazakhstan undertook a process of de-monopolization, privatization, debt restructuring, price liberalization, customs reform and tax restructuring. It established a securities and exchange commission, liberalized trade, enacted laws on investment, set up a new government procurement process and reformed the banking and pension systems.

The banking sector has flourished. The financial system has been a leader in innovation, including the emergence of successful private pension funds, the establishment of the National Oil Fund to preserve oil wealth for future generations and a budding mortgage-lending market.
Kazakhstan has a favorable investment climate. The country's economy has received more than 37.2 bln. USD of FDI - the highest per capita indicator in the former Eastern Bloc. Moody's international credit rating agency upgraded Kazakhstan in 2002 to Baa3 - the same rating as Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Kazakhstan became the first country in the CIS to reach an investment grade status. First among CIS countries, Kazakhstan was granted "market economy status" by the EU in 2001 and by the USA in 2002.
Kazakhstan is important to world energy markets because of its significant oil and natural gas reserves. With sufficient export options, Kazakhstan can become one of the world's largest oil producers and exporters in the near future. The country also has the world's largest reserves of barite, lead, tungsten and uranium; the second largest reserves of chromites, silver and zinc; the third largest deposits of manganese; significant deposits of copper, gold and iron ore.

The country is experiencing dynamic growth in domestic production and development of up-to-date information technologies. The Kazakhstan Government's top priority is to further development and encourage more foreign direct investments into industry, agriculture, innovation and processing sectors. Kazakhstan's strategic aspiration is to become a modern, diversified economy with a high value-added and high-tech component, well integrated into the global economy.