WEEKLY REVIEW: Kazakhstan to revise 2015 budget due to possible drop in oil prices

On Monday, October 13, Minister of Education and Science Aslan Sarinzhipov made a report at the government's hour at Majilis, the lower chamber of the Kazakh Parliament. The report mainly focused on the shortage of textbooks for secondary schools' students countrywide. Minister Sarinzhipov said the ministry should make the list of necessary textbooks way ahead of the new academic year in order to avoid the shortage. The regional education departments will sign contracts with publishing houses prior to February 1 to make sure that all schools are provided with textbooks by August. Vice Minister of National Economy Kairbek Uskenbayev also took the floor at the government's hour to talk about ways and measures to improve conditions for doing business in Kazakhstan. On Tuesday, October 14, Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Karim Massimov chaired the session of the Government that was mainly dedicated to financial and economic issues. For instance, participants tabled the problems related to legalization of property, the second wave of privatization and the progress of implementation of the AgroBusiness-2020 Program and the Employment Roadmap. Besides, Minister of National Economy Yerbolat Dossayev reported on the results of implementation of the Ak Bulak Program over the past 9 months of 2014. On Wednesday, October 15, the Ministry for Investments and Development hosted the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Aircraft repair plant №405. It was announced that the plant plans to assemble Ka-226T helicopters. On Thursday, October 16, Director of the Department for modernization of vocational and technical education under the Education and Science Ministry Sabyrzhan Madeyev told a special conference in Astana that the ministry had developed more than two hundred professional standards of technical and vocational education. Most of those standards have already been registered and tested. Corresponding educational module programs for students of vocational colleges will be developed on the basis of the approved standards. Vice Minister of National Economy Marat Kussainov announced that the ministry will attract experts and researchers to work out measures to increase the effectiveness of tax incentives. This is done to make Kazakhstan's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) as smooth as possible. On Friday, October 17, first Vice Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev said at the 2nd International Investment Forum in Almaty the Government of Kazakhstan plans to revise the 2015 budget due to sharp drop in oil prices. "Given the possibility that oil prices can drop below $80 a barrel, we need to revise the budget for the upcoming year," he said.