07.10.2004 Kazakh GDP up 9.4% in Jan-Sept: www.interfax.com
Almaty. (Interfax) - Kazakh Deputy Economics Minister Kairat Aitekenov announced at the third regional economic forum in Karaganda that GDP in Kazakhstan in January-September, according to preliminary figures, increased 9.4% year-on-year to 2.48 trillion tenge, the Kazakh Economy and Budget Planning Ministry said in a statement. According to preliminary figures, industrial production was up 10.2%. The official exchange rate on October 7 was 134.22 tenge to the dollar.

07.10.2004 Kazkommertsbank to get $30 mln Citigroup loan: www.interfax.com
Almata. (Interfax) - Kazakhstan's Kazkommertsbank will get a $30 million Citigroup loan guaranteed by the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), a bank's press release says. The loan will be extended for four years with a grace period of 18 months at a rate of six-month LIBOR+1.7% annually. OPIC will guarantee 75% of the loan. "Citigroup organized and extended the loan under a signed program for CIS countries between Citigroup and OPIC for Kazkommertsbank to subsequently extend financing to medium and small enterprises in Kazakhstan, Russia and Kyrgyzstan," the release says. It is expected that the loan will be used to finance up to four years of various projects by small and medium businesses, including in the sphere of infrastructure development, which "are not necessarily connected to U.S. product or service exports," the release says.

07.10.2004 Kazakhstan posts Sept inflation of 0.8%: www.interfax.com
Almaty. (Interfax) - Consumer prices in Kazakhstan rose 0.8% in September compared with 0.4% in August, and 3.8% in the first nine months of 2004, the national statistical agency told Interfax. In September, prices rose 0.8% for food and drink and 0.8% also for nonfoods. Services went up 0.7%. In the nine months, prices rose 4% for food and drink, 4.1% for nonfoods and 3% for services.

18.10.2004 Kazakhstan refinances Eurobonds: www.interfax.com
ASTANA. Oct 18 (Interfax) - The Kazakh Finance Ministry paid $300 million on schedule on Monday to redeem its third issue of five-year Eurobonds, in addition to $20.44 million to pay the tenth and final coupon on the bonds, a source in the ministry's state debt department told Interfax. In September-November 1999 Kazakhstan placed an issue of five-year Eurobonds amounting to $300 million with yields of 13.625% per year. Yields were paid semi-annually - on April 18 and October 18.

18.10.2004 KazMunaiGaz eyes 3 options for shipping gas to China: www.interfax.com
Astana. (Interfax) - Kazakhstan's national oil and gas company KazMunaiGaz is considering options for shipping gas to China. "We are looking at the possibilities for exporting gas to China. We are studying three variants for transporting gas to China," KazMunaiGaz's president Uzakbai Karabalin announced on national TV. One possibility would be moving Turkmen and Uzbek gas "via the line that now exists in southern Kazakhstan to Almaty," he said. "Extending this line [from Almaty] to the border with China does not involve great technical difficulty. And this would be one variant where it would be possible to transport gas [to China] fairly rapidly," he said. KazMunaiGaz is also looking at shipping Kazakh gas from the country's western oil and gas region to Chimkent and then using the above- mentioned route, Karabalin said. "There is yet another variant that specialists are now considering. That is the building of a gas pipeline from Russia, from Omsk to the south [of Kazakhstan] via Astana with an outlet to the Chinese border. With this, we presuppose the possibility of exchange operations," Karabalin said.

31.10.2004 Russia Successfully Launches Telecoms Satellite From Kazakhstan: http://www.rednova.com
Russia successfully launches telecoms satellite from Kazakhstan MOSCOW, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- Russia successfully launched a Proton- K rocket and its telecoms satellite cargo from the Baikonour space station in Kazakhstan overnight, the Russian Space Agency FKA said Saturday. The launch took place at 2211 GMT Friday with the satellite due to be placed into orbit at 0445 GMT Saturday, Interfax quoted the space agency as saying. The Express AM-1 satellite, developed by the Reshetnev scientific research association in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, will transmit television and radio signals back to Russia as well as providing new internet and telephone links.

31.10.2004 Three banks issue Kazakh food corp. $20 mln for grain buy: www.interfax.com
Almaty. (Interfax) - The Kazakh bank CenterCredit, Dutch bank Rabobank International and French bank Natexis Banques Populaires have extended Kazakhstan's Food Contract Corporation (Prodokorporatsiya) an 18-month grain-procurement credit totaling $20 million, a CenterCredit press release says. Prodokorporatsiya, the state's grain buyer, will be securing the credit with grain receipts partially affirmed by the Kazakh state fund for guaranteeing grain receipt obligations. CenterCredit is the loan's security agent, and to whom Prodokorporatsiya will be transferring funds for credit repayment.

31.10.2004 Fitch upgrades Kazakhstan to "BBB-": www.interfax.com
London. (Interfax) - Fitch Ratings upgraded the Republic of Kazakhstan's Long-term foreign currency rating to "BBB-" (BBB minus) from "BB+", the agency said in a press release. The Short-term foreign currency rating has been upgraded to "F3" from "B" and the Long-term local currency rating upgraded to "BBB" from "BBB-" (BBB minus). The Outlook on the Long-term ratings is Stable. The improvement in Kazakhstan's creditworthiness is underpinned by the development of its oil and gas sector and the spill-over of high oil prices. The economy is on track to record its fifth consecutive year of GDP growth above 9% and the authorities continue to manage oil revenues prudently. Although social spending has increased, the consolidated general government fiscal position (including the National Fund) remains in surplus and the bulk of the oil windfall is being saved in the National Fund. Indeed, by the end of 2004, Fitch estimates that the Fund will hold more than $5 billion, or 13.1% of GDP. Government debt is low at 13.5% of GDP and the public sector has a net external creditor position equivalent to 24% of GDP. Gross external debt for the country as a whole is relatively high but more than 50% of the debt is inter-company liabilities related to oil and gas projects. Excluding these liabilities Kazakhstan's debt ratios would compare far more favorably with its peers' and the liquidity ratio would rise above 100%. Despite efforts to encourage economic diversification, and a relatively strong performance by the non-oil sector in recent years, the fast growth of the hydrocarbons sector has ensured that it continues to dominate the economy. As such, Kazakhstan remains exposed to a sharp fall in oil prices. However, this is not an event that Fitch currently judges as likely over the near term and, even if an unexpected oil price adjustment did occur, the economy and the country's public finances are in a stronger position to cope with this sort of pressure now than at any time in the past. Over the next 10 years oil output is set to rise to around 3.5 million bpd from just over 1 million bpd, higher than current production levels in Norway and only slightly below output in Iran and Mexico. Natural gas production is also set to rise sharply. Against this background the current account is likely to record rising surpluses from 2008 onwards, the assets of the National Fund should continue to mount and the government's net creditor position should strengthen further. However, this positive picture is tempered slightly by political risks. President Nazarbayev's dominant role means that succession risks appear higher in Kazakhstan than in most of its rating peers. In addition, although Fitch's central expectation is for broad social stability over the medium term, rising domestic tensions or negative spill-over effects from less stable neighbors cannot be ruled out.

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