Country Profile- Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan is located in the Central Asia. It is the world’s largest landlocked country. The country is endowed with natural resources such as petroleum, gas, chromium, lead, zinc and uranium.
The United Nations Development Programme ranks Kazakhstan 58th in terms of Human Development Index with the value of 0.800. It is ranked 28th in ‘Ease of Doing Business’ by World Bank released in 2018 with 1st rank in protecting minority investors and 4th in enforcing contracts. As per World Economic Outlook Database, 2018 estimate Kazakhstan is ranked 42nd in world in GDP in PPP terms at a value of US$ 508 billion while ranked 50th in GDP in nominal terms at a value of US$ 184 billion. The per capita GDP of Kazakhstan in PPP terms is estimated to be US$ 27494 and in nominal terms it is estimated to be US$ 9977 in 2018 by World Economic Outlook Database.
TRADE STATISTICS
In 2017, Kazakhstan imported US $ 29.3 billion worth of goods. Its export was over US $ 48.3 billion in value in 2017 which accounted for 0.3 % of the total exports in the world. As per ITC trade map Kazakhstan ranks 50th among the top world exporters, list is led by China.
The top trading partner of Kazakhstan is Russia, followed by China and Italy. India does not rank in the list of top 10 trading partners of Kazakhstan, but has a significant import from Kazakhstan of worth US$ 1.04 billion and an export value of US$ 118 million from India to Kazakhstan, resulting into a trade deficit of US$ 921 million for India.
KAZAKHSTAN’S MERCHANDISE TRADE WITH WORLD
Kazakhstan’s exports to the world have followed its path of imports throughout, as can be seen in the graph below. The country has maintained a trade surplus throughout the past decade but the trade surplus is consistently declining post 2011. In 2017 it had a trade surplus of US $ 18.9 billion. In the last 10 years trade surplus was highest in the year 2011 at US$ 50.1 billion.
KAZAKHSTAN’S EXPORT TO THE WORLD
Kazakhstan’s total export in 2017 amounted to US $ 48.34 billion. Natural resources are the primary export products of Kazakhstan. Its top export product at HS-6 digit level last year was Crude petroleum oil, Copper cathodes, Ferro chromium, Natural gas and Natural uranium. These products constitute 71% of the total export basket of Kazakhstan.
KAZAKHSTAN’S IMPORTS FROM THE WORLD
Kazakhstan’s import basket is primarily led by Medicaments, Telephones for cellular networks, Medium oils, Light oils, Motor cars and other motor vehicles and Appliances for pipes, boiler shells, tanks which together make up the Top 5 imports of Kazakhstan. These products constitute 10 % of the total import basket of Kazakhstan.
INDIA- KAZAKHSTAN MERCHANDISE TRADE
Barring the year 2011 and 2012 India consistently maintained a trade deficit with Kazakhstan. Deficit reached the highest i.e. turned worse in 2017 with a deficit of 921 million. India’s export is following a declining trend year on year after 2013. Barring the dip in 2014 and 2015 Indian’s import from Kazakhstan followed an upward trend.
INDIA’S EXPORT TO KAZAKHSTAN
India’s total exports to Kazakhstan amounted to US $ 118.4 billion in 2017. Its top five exports at HS-6 digit level were Tea, Medicaments, Refractory cements, mortars, concretes, Vaccines for human medicine and Cashew nuts (Shelled). It amounts to 59.6% of the total export to Kazakhstan from India.
INDIA’S IMPORT FROM KAZAKHSTAN
India’s total import from Kazakhstan in 2017 was US $ 1.04 billion. India’s import was dominated by Crude Petroleum oils, Medium oils and preparations, Asbestos, Ferro-chromium and Phosphorus. The import basket of India for the products imported from Kazakhstan is highly skewed, such that the top 5 products amount to 97 % of total imports by India from Kazakhstan.
India-Kazakhstan economic relationship is primarily influenced by energy resources. India is not just an important oil importer but proposed TAPI pipeline – The Turkmenistan–Afghanistan–Pakistan–India Pipeline (TAPI), also known as Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline may boost the import of natural gas by India from Kazakhstan. Besides the traditional source of energy the two nations are also collaborating on clean nuclear energy since Kazakhstan is endowed with large nuclear reserves and India is a large energy consumer. India has a civil nuclear pact with Kazakhstan for the purchase of uranium from Kazakhstan. As per UNCTAD investment report, from 2001 to 2012, Kazakhstan received US$ 200 million of FDI from India while India received US$ 29 million of FDI from Kazakhstan from 2001 to 2012.
Both nations have sought to establish extensive collaboration and commerce in information technology, space research and defence technology.
