KAZAKHSTAN REPORTS 9.1 PERCENT ECONOMIC GROWTH

Economy Minister Kairat Kelimbetov told a cabinet meeting in Astana on 27 July that Kazakhstan's economy posted year-on-year GDP growth of 9.1 percent in the first half of 2005.

Industrial production notched a 7 percent year-on-year increase. A ministry press release ascribed the overall growth to increases in industrial and agricultural production, Interfax-Kazakhstan reported. The forecast for Kazakhstan's GDP in 2005 is 6.4 trillion tenges ($47 billion), or 8.8 percent real growth as compared to 2004 figures, the news agency noted.