OxBowBusiness

Kazakhstan

Here's a post with a bit of background and then a couple of questions to consider.

First of all, hands up anyone who can readily point to Kazakhstan on a world map!

(one hand shoots up)

Right, Duncan, where is it?

Sir, you can find it by finding Delhi in India and going north for about 1,000 miles and then looking up and left ... you see that it's the size of Western Europe but has a population of only 16 - 17,000,000 or so. It stretches from China to the Caspian Sea.

Thank you Duncan, absolutely right! Go to this BBC Page to see.

Anyway, what's to do with Kazakhstan? Well, the BBC just reported that its economy grew at around 9.4% in 2005. Kazakhstan is very rich in many mineral resources, not the least of which is oil and its oil production has doubled production to more than a million barrels a day. That puts it among the world's top 20 oil producers.

The BBC also say that in the past eight years, economic growth, measured in terms of gross domestic product, has grown by 84%.

Now here's the spooky thing. In spite of the apparently good news above, "analysts say the Kazakh economy lacks transparency and is heavily dependent on exports of raw materials."

Question: Why do you think that analysts are worried that the country is heavily dependent on exports of raw materials? What are the arguments and what do you think they would like Kazakhstan to do about it?

See the full, albeit short, article

If you want to see a bit of Kazakhstan, just do a google search with Kazakhstan as the subject and then look at the images that that returns. Some stunning sights to behold.

Why not go to KIMEP's web site to see where Duncan worked from 1993 to 1998. Be impressed when you click on the "About KIMEP" button then the Honorary Professors of KIMEP link ... guess who's there!

(Duncan blushes)

Duncan Williamson

posted by Duncan Williamson @ 7:33 PM