Industrial production in Kazakhstan increased by 2% y/y in Jan-Aug, the State Stat Agency has informed. In the same period of previous year, industrial output went up by 0.7% y/y while in whole 2012 it stood at 0.5% y/y, well below the government’s forecast for 2012. The official forecast for this year is set at 3.8%.
The growth will be drive by oil production at the largest Kazakh field – Kashagan. It is planned that by the end of the year, oil output will reach level of 5mn tonnes per year. As production at the field was just launched, the government projection is likely to be realized.
Among sectors, industrial production in the mining sector went up by 2.9% y/y and in manufacturing – by 1.1% in Jan-Aug. Distribution of electricity and gas grew by 0.9% while water distribution shrank by 13.8%. The data also who that oil output increased by 3.1% y/y to 54mn tonnes and gas production went up by 3.3% to 27.8bcm in the reported period.
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