National Bank of Kazakhstan forecasts GDP growth in 2009 at 0.1-0.3%
ALMATY. Sept 9 (Interfax) - The National Bank of Kazakhstan forecasts that GDP growth in 2009 at 0.1%-0.3%, the National Bank's head, Grigory Marchenko, said at a press conference on Wednesday in Almaty.
"Our estimate [for GDP] is such: in the first quarter - at a minus, in the second quarter - minus, in the third quarter - around 0% and in the fourth quarter - there will be gains. Overall, our forecast comes between 0.1% and 0.3% for economic growth. From the start we said that the guidance would be 0%-1% but we later adjusted this figure," he said.
According to state statistics, GDP in Kazakhstan decreased by 2.3% in the first half of the year.
The country's GDP in 2009, according to recent official calculations, is forecast at 16.865 trillion tenge (150.84 tenge/$1 on September 9, 2009), or an increase of 1%.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasts that Kazakhstan's GDP to drop by 2% in 2009.
Kazakhstan's GDP in 2008 went up by 3.2%.