Real incomes of Kazakhstan’s population fell by 4.5% y/y in 2016, marking the largest decline in a single year within the past 16 years, Kazakhstan’s Ranking.kz analytical agency said on February 20.
The population's incomes along with the purchasing power of Kazakh wages fell due to the devaluation of the Kazakh currency towards the end of 2015 after the authorities adopted a free-floating exchange rate in August.
Within the period of 2011-2015, the number of Kazakhs with incomes below the living wage fell by over twofold, the agency said. In the first nine months of 2016, that number reached 452,000, which was 6000 more Kazakh citizens than in the same period of 2015.
The Kazakh subsistence minimum grew by 8.6% y/y in 2016, according to government figures. However, the jump was countered by inflation of 8.5%.
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