KZBlog

Azat (formerly Nagyz Ak Zhol) announced this week a plan to resolve the financial crisis.

The opposition party highlighted the crisis as resulting in a decline in industries unrelated to oil and mining, a stagnant retail market, a decrease in real income for 70% of the population, and causing issues in tax collection. They have called for the Prime Minister, Karim Masimov, to step down due to his “incompetence”.

They also called for the end of unnecessary expenses. The president made a similar request in his Address to the People of Kazakhstan earlier this year. However, the opposition includes construction of prestige projects in Astana on its list, as well as special military organizations. They say this will lead to $2 billion in savings which can be put into salaries and pensions. Another $7 billion they suggest should be taken from the National Oil Fund (which was created to be used in the case of financial crises but as yet has not been touched) and put into the economy.

The government should also pay for renovation of infrastructure, repairs of apartment buildings and highway construction, according to Azat. At the moment much of that work is done by government contract to private companies. However PPP (Public-Private Partnerships) have plagued the government for years because there is no clear understanding of what it means. The Prime Minister recently called for a brainstorming session on this topic.

Finally the opposition party called for the National Bank to cancel its requirements for commerical banks to hold reserves equal to their credit, so that more loans and credit can be accessed by the people.

For a mostly negative review of this plan, see Adam Kesher’s post on Neweurasia.