Nazarbayev orders govt to raise Kazakhstan's minimum wage 50% in 2019
ASTANA. Oct 5 (Interfax) - On January 1, 2019, the minimum wage in Kazakhstan will rise 50%.
"I instruct the government to raise the minimum wage by 50% from January 1, 2019, from 28,000 to 42,000 tenge," Nazarbayev said in his annual address to the nation in Astana on Friday.
On January 1 of this year, the minimum wage was fixed at 28,284 tenge.
This will affect 1.3 million workers at private companies and 275,000 employees at state-owned companies, whose salaries will increase by 35% on average.
"The parliament needs to consider budgeting 96 billion tenge annually in 2019-2021 to this end," Nazarbayev said.
Individuals' well-being is the key to the success of the state, he said in his annual address to the nation in Astana on Friday.
"The government and every state agency and state-owned company need to change their approaches to working with people. Increased well-being of Kazakhstanis needs to become the top priority," Nazarbayev said.
Well-being depends on steady growth in income and quality of life, he said.
The current exchange rate is 367.2 tenge/$1.