Vice Minister of Economy and Budget Planning does not share concerns about Kazakhstan's economic losses from CU

17:29, 10 January 2014

ASTANA. January 10. KAZINFORM - Vice- Minister of Economy and Budget Planning Timur Zhaksylykov does not share concerns about Kazakhstan's large economic losses from the Customs Union, he said during a video conference on the discussion of the draft agreement on the Eurasian Economic Union.

"How did the performance of exports and imports change? Despite the known fears and very negative assessment of the benefits and losses that we have within the Customs Union, I want to say that the numbers remain almost the same. Both exports and imports increased by the same amount - by 91-92 percent over three years. I emphasize that we are talking about statistics on the results of 2012", said T.Zhaksylykov.

According to him, within the first two years - 2010 and 2011 - exports grew faster pace, and in 2012 and in 2013 there was outstripping growth of imports from Russia and Belarus.

Vice Minister also gave statistics of trade within the Customs Union in the first three years of its existence, from 2010 to 2012. During this time, there was a twofold increase in turnover between Kazakhstan, on the one hand, Russia and Belarus, on the other hand, and it reached 24.5 billion dollars. There are no statistics data on 2013.

Customs Union Government of Kazakhstan Government Economy