Inflation in Kazakhstan up

By Azernews

By Kamila Aliyeva

The inflation rate in Kazakhstan in October 2017 amounted to 1.2 percent compared to the previous month, and 5.4 percent compared to December 2016, the Committee on Statistics of the Kazakh National Economy Ministry reported.

In September, the inflation rate in Kazakhstan was 0.3 percent, which is 0.2 percent more than in August.

Last month, food prices rose by 1.3 percent, prices for non-food products - by 1.9 percent, and paid services for the population grew by 0.3 percent.

Since the beginning of the year, as of November 1, prices for food products have increased by 4.5 percent, for non-food products - by 7.5 percent, paid services - by 4.6 percent.

Diesel fuel went up by 19.9 percent, gasoline - by 17.3 percent, coal - by 15.3 percent, and liquefied gas in cylinders - by 7.8 percent.

The consumer price index (CPI), which characterizes the level of inflation, shows the change in prices for goods and services purchased by the population for personal consumption. The set of goods and services includes 510 items.

Since January 2017, when constructing the CPI, the share of food products is 37.6 percent, non-food products - 30.2 percent, paid services - 32.2 percent.

Earlier, Kazakh National Bank forecasted the inflation rate in the country to decrease to 6.5-7 percent in 2017, and to begin to smoothly enter the target range of 5-7 percent in 2018. Slowdown of inflation will occur on account of a decrease in inflation expectations, an enhancement of stability and predictability of the situation on domestic money market, as well as an adoption of moderately restrictive monetary policy in 2017.

The Bank also predicted that economic growth in Kazakhstan will accelerate to 2.2 percent in 2017 and to 4.7 percent for the nine months of 2018. 

Economic growth in this period will be provided due to the growth in domestic consumption amid rising real wages, the growth of investment in fixed assets in the framework of the implementation of government programs to support and diversify the economy, and the growth of production of mineral resources (the Kashagan effect).