Kazakhstan is still recovering from the news that the international rating agency Standard & Poor's has lowered the country's score. This decision was based on the instability of markets world-wide, particularly in neighbouring Russia.

"This pessimistic point of view is the result of recent events in other countries. On the whole, the markets of developing economies are not stable," said Nadir Burnashev, a spokesman for the State Investigation Committee.

On Monday, Standard & Poor's decreased Kazakhstan's long-term currency rating from "BB-" to "B+". The long-term rating of borrowing in local currency was reduced from "BB+" to "BB-".

The overall ratings' forecast went from "stable" to "negative".

However, after signing on September 14 a number of investment contracts in the oil and gas, chemical and metal sectors worth USD 4.0b, the Kazakhstani government is sure that the financial system of Kazakhstan is still stable.

President Nursultan Nazarbaev promised that investments will increase in Kazakhstan since many investors are pulling capital from other countries. Kazakhstan continues to enjoy economic and political stability, and the government is working to create a good legal structure for investors.

In the opinion of the director of Deutsche Bank Securities, Grigori Marchenko, there have been no fundamental changes in Kazakhstan's economy which warrant this lowering of the country's rating. (Reuters)

According to the State Committee for Statistics and Analysis, Kazakhstan's industrial output fell 0.9 percent in January-August compared to the same period last year.

Kazakhstan's trade deficit was USD 865.2m in the first seven months of 1998 after it was USD 181.0m in the same period of 1997.

The money mass in circulation decreased 6.0% in January-July of 1998 and totalled KZT 161.9bn (USD 2.094bn). The cash volume decreased 12.5% to KZT 81.2bn (USD 1.05bn) over the same period. As of August 1, the proportion of cash in the total money mass decreased by 3.7pp and stayed at 50.2% since July 1.

The Statistics Committee's report says that a total of KZT11.3bn was withdrawn from circulation in January-July 1998, while KZT1bn was reissued in July. (Reuters)

The National Bank of Kazakhstan recalled the registration certificates from 48 currency exchange offices which had violated state regulations.

In the interest of all Kazakhstani citizens, the National Bank recently adopted measures to stabilise the cash currency market. Therefore, from the beginning of September until now, the NBK and the tax authorities have been monitoring the paperwork and activities of exchange offices daily. (Reuters)

According to a presidential decree published last Tuesday, the Kazakhstani government has named Serik Burkitbaev as Minister of Transport and Communications. Burkitbaev replaces Yerkin Kaliev, whose resignation was accepted by President Nursultan Nazarbaev on Monday.

For the past two years, Burkitbaev has been head of the state telecom company, Kazakhtelecom. While in that position, he worked to modernise the company's ageing Soviet infrastructure and to improve communications in the remote regions of Kazakhstan's vast, steppe. (Reuters)