In 2017, the debt of the Kazakhstan' government reached 193,3 billion tenge. And we know that this year oil prices have grown significantly. In 2015 was less than 30 dollars. However, there is the contradiction. Although Kazakhstan is an oil country and oil prices are are increasing, the debt of state is growing instead of decreasing. There is the question, where is the income of government from oil and tax revenues going?

As stated by the Ministry of Finance, in 2017 the government debt rose by 14,8% and made up 10 trillion 193,3 billion tenge. So, the volume of loans increased by 1 trillion 316 billion tenge. In terms of the dollar equivalent, the growth was 15,1% or rose from 4 billion 37,0 million dollars to 30 billion 672 million tenge.

With regards to the government's internal debt, this amount grew by 3 times or to (32,1%) 5 trillion 624,3 billion tenge, even if it was financed by the United accumulative pension fund. As regards the dollar, the indicator was higher by 0,4 percent (32,5 percent), this is around 16 billion 923,8 million dollars. It is unclear that the amount of debt does not stop to grow, despite rising the price of oil.

Because the treasury of government rises through the oil price, its income should also increase. However, we do not see any decrease in debt volumes.

However, as stated by the International Monetary Fund and other financial rating agencies, the external debt of the government in 2017 dropped by 0,8 percent or to 13 billion 748.5 million dollar. Concerning the national currency, the debt decreased to 4 trillion 569,0 billion tenge. 6,5 billion dollars of this debt belongs to various independent Eurobonds, 4 billion 15,7 million dollars to the World Bank, and 2,16 billion dollars to the Asian Development Bank.

According to the statistics of the Ministry of Finance, there is no external debt of the National Bank. Nevertheless, the volume of domestic debt grow significantly. It increased by 26,4% or 3 trillion 183,4 billion tenge (in terms of dollar equivalent, it rose to 26,7% or 9 billion 579,1 million dollars).

Moreover, in 2017, local authorities' borrowing increased. For instance, their government debt increased by 30,1%, it was 572,1 billion tenge. Concerning the American currency, it was 1 billion 721,6 million dollars (30,5 percent). However, despite the volume of this debt, in the beginning of 2018 it was necessary 444,7 billion tenge for regions.

In 2017, the total government debt of Kazakhstan rose by 18%, 13 trillion 504 million tenge, and with the US currency to 40 billion 635 million dollars.

Debt of Kazakhstan. Table: QT

“The Qazaq Times”