Kazakhstan enters top fifty world economies for doing business, continues march up World Bank's rankings

The World Bank's Doing Business Report 2012, released today, showed that Kazakhstan has moved up 11 places to 47, with strong progress in protecting investors and paying taxes.

The success continues a steady trend for Kazakhstan, the world's fastest reformer in last year's rankings, when it rose 15 places to 59.

Commenting on the report, Prime Minister Karim Massimov said: "The World Bank's report shows our ongoing programme of business reform is working. We are more open to foreign investors than ever before. We are also building an environment in which small and medium enterprises will flourish - as they are at the heart of our drive to build a diverse, resilient and sustainable future economy. Kazakhstan has had twenty years of economic success, but in today's tough financial times, it is the Government's responsibility to continually improve the business environment and maintain the march up the rankings."

The rise comes as the Kazakh economy prepares for the implementation of the Customs Union's Common Economic Space on 1st January 2012, which will permit the free movement of capital, goods and labour between Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus. The ranking makes Kazakhstan by far the easiest place to do business in a rapidly growing consumer market of 165 million people.

Key report data:

• Kazakhstan moved up 34 places in the category on protecting investors, reaching 10th in the world, due to improvements in regulating the approval of transactions between interested parties and making it easier to sue directors in cases of prejudicial transactions between interested parties.
• Kazakhstan rose from 26th to 13th in the world for paying taxes, with a simple payment system and low tax rates to encourage SME growth.

• Kazakhstan maintained its position in the top 30 world economies for registering property (29) and enforcing contracts (27); Kazinform refers to http://portal.mfa.kz/