World Monitor Magazine WM_November_2019_web | Page 8

DESTINATION KAZAKHSTAN
Investment attractiveness
of Almaty
The potential of the city, significant investment projects, the role of the
diplomatic corps in the process of attracting investments, the role of the UN
office, plans to strengthen the image of Almaty, we talked about this and much
more with Erlan Iskakov, Head of the Representative Office of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan in Almaty.
The investment attractiveness of the
city of Almaty – what are the potential
and significant investment projects
that you can highlight?
Erlan Iskakov,
Head of the Representative
Office of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs of the
Republic of Kazakhstan
in Almaty
Almaty is an investment attractive city, a
large regional financial and cultural, tourist
and educational centre in the Central Asian
region. During these years of independence
for the Republic of Kazakhstan, the
economy of Almaty has grown 100 times.
Almaty forms a fifth of the country’s GDP
and a quarter of its taxes. International
companies are actively investing in our
city. Over ten years the city has attracted
investments in the amount of 22.2 billion
US dollars, including foreign investments
– 3.5 billion US dollars (Source: Statistics
Committee of the Ministry of National
Economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan, as
of 01.01.2019).
Trade and service compose 86% of
Almaty’s economy, of which small and
medium-sized businesses contribute
40%. In the structure of Kazakhstan’s
gross domestic product (GDP), Almaty
contributes 21% of the share. This
is the largest indicator among the
regions of the country. In terms of
gross regional product, Almaty has a
favorable tax regime and ranks first in
the RK. Kazakhstan’s total tax and social
tax rate, which is 29.4%, ranks 25th,
between Spain and Ireland, according to
Doing Business 2019 in the Paying Taxes
category (Source: World Bank, Doing
Business - 2019).
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Every year our city sets new records in terms
of gross regional product. The economy
of Almaty is characterized by sustainable
development. Rapid growth in the food,
machine-building and other industries,
as well as in the service sector, ensured
an average annual growth in industry of
15%, in construction growth is 11%, and in
investments we see growth of 14%.
The
infrastructure
for
supporting
innovation has received significant
development in the following way:
technology parks are developing as well
as business incubators and innovation
entrepreneurship support centres.
In terms of industries, Almaty invests in
financial and insurance activities, real
estate operations, information and com-
munications, education, construction, in-
dustry, agronomy, transportation, ware-
housing, healthcare, art, entertainment,
sports, science, technology, hospitality,
social and administrative, as well as many
other services.
For the current 2019 year, 138 enterprises
and manufacturing industries are located
in Almaty, which makes up 8.4% of the
total number of enterprises and industries
of this sector in the Republic of Kazakhstan
and occupies the 4th place in the country,
after the Karaganda, Turkestan and
Almaty regions.
In addition, Almaty is a major logistics and
transportation hub, uniting Kazakhstan