Kelimbetov told Bloomberg about Kazakhstan's monetary policy
Speaking in the session "Infrastructure Financing in Asia: Perspectives and Challenges" Kairat Kelimbetov told about the role of Kazakhstan in implementation of the "One Belt One Way" Strategy.
"Kazakhstan was the first to have started taking practical measures on development of the transit and transport component of the Strategy. On the one part we are a part of the Central Asia, on the other we are in the Eurasian Economic Union. China chose Kazakhstan among the three countries (including Pakistan and Iran) as the key partner of the"One Belt One Way" Strategy. President Nursultan Nazarbayev set the goal to create a new platform in Kazakhstan which will be named "the International Financial Center Astana". This is very much like the Dubai international financial center or Abu-Dhabi Global Market" Kairat Kelimbetov said answering the question of the moderator.
The IFCA Director told about the measures which Kazakhstan Government takes for diversification of economy and development of cooperation with the leading financial platforms and companies of China, and enhancement of the investment climate.
On the sidelines of the forum Kelimbetov also gave an interview to Bloomberg agency.
"I think that the Government and the National Bank of Kazakhstan have chosen the right strategy. In August 2015 Kazakhstan switched to the new regime of monetary policy - we perform targeting of the inflation to ensure tellfree floating of the exchange rate. This will allow us to live through external shakes. In Kazakhstan due to drop of oil price and the economic recession in Russia we experienced double shock. We launched a responsible fiscal policy which provides for 40 dollars per oil barrel in the budget for the next three years", he said.
According to Kelimbetov, the most important tools for getting over the complicated financial situation is structural reforms in the of matter of law supremacy, economic diversification, privatization and creation of the center of financial services in Kazakhstan.
"We are focused on improvement of corporate management in Kazakhstan. One of the ways is mass privatization when all subsidiaries of Samruk-Kazyna Fund will be privatized during the next 3-5 years. It is about 19 large enterprises and 40% of the country's GDP. And we understand that more transparent and effective structure of state companies will be of good for Kazakhstan", he concluded.
Earlier in an interview to Kazinform Kelimbetov told that the purpose of creation of IFCA was attraction of direct foreign investments both for development of Kazakhstan, and Central Asia. Through the financial centers like Hong Kong and Singapore, "Astana" plans to attract new financial technologies (so-called "fintech") and the investors who work on those platforms.