Govt of Kazakhstan allocates additional $65 mln for development of livestock breeding

ASTANA. Nov 27 (Interfax) - Kazakhstan's Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov signed a resolution on the allocation of an additional 30 billion tenge (almost $65 million at the current exchange rate) from government reserves to finance livestock breeding, the Prime Minister's press service reported.

"The Ministry of Agriculture was allocated 30 billion tenge to transfer to the budgets of the regions of Abay, Zhetysu, Akmola, Almaty, East Kazakhstan, Zhambyl, West Kazakhstan, Mangistau, Pavlodar and North Kazakhstan in the form of targeted current transfers to subsidize the development of livestock breeding, increasing the productivity and quality of livestock products," the release says.

The largest amount, 7.8 billion tenge, was allocated to the administration of Akmola region. In addition, 5 billion tenge will go to the Zhambyl region, 4.5 billion to the East Kazakhstan region, and almost 1 billion tenge will be allocated to livestock farms in the West Kazakhstan region.

Additional subsidies will be used to compensate interest rates on loans and leasing, as well as investment costs.

This year, the government of Kazakhstan has allocated 494 billion tenge from all sources to subsidize the agro-industrial complex.

The official exchange rate as of November 27 is 463.09 tenge/$1.