Inflation in Kazakhstan from 6-13 April totalled 4.4%, said the National Bank's Chairman, Kadyrzhan Damitov, at a press conference on Friday, 16 April. According to him, the prices of food products increased by 5.3pp during this period. Non-food products grew in price by 6.7pp and services by 0.4pp. Mr. Damitov attributed this increase in prices to the sharp growth in the value of the Dollar following the Tenge liberalisation and by "some disorientation among sellers and buyers". He forecasted that the prices will tend to decrease in the coming weeks given a limited purchasing power. (Interfax)

Following the Tenge liberalisation, most private pension funds have converted their Tenge-denominated government securities to 5-year hard currency government papers. The Chairman of the National Securities Commission (NSC), Azamat Dzholdasbekov, said at a press conference on Wednesday, 14 April, that of a total of KZT 1.28bn in Tenge-denominated securities that the funds held in their portfolios as of 3 April, KZT 1.16m (about USD 10m at a rate of KZT 114/USD 1) have been converted. The remaining KZT 120m mostly includes Tenge-denominated T-bills that fell due in the first 10 days of April. According to Mr. Dzholdasbekov, as of 26 March 1999, Kazakhstani private pension funds' assets totalled KZT 29.1bn, or USD 329.3m at an exchange rate of KZT 88.3/USD 1. Of this amount, 74.7% were invested in Eurobonds, 16.5% in Tenge-denominated government securities, 3.2% in equities, and 3.5% were deposited in banks. (Interfax)

Finance Minister Uraz Dzhandosov said at a meeting with visiting representatives of Switzerland's International Centre For Public Affairs that the Kazakhstani government will, "in the near future", present a number of draft laws to the parliament "to improve considerably the investment climate in the country". These include a draft law on private land ownership and amendments to the laws on the support of investments, the securities market, and the use of natural resources. Mr. Dzhandosov believes that the introduction of the floating Tenge exchange rate "should not result in serious inflation" in 1999 since Kazakhstan has "a tight budget" and follows "a strict monetary policy". (Interfax)

Kazakhstan's industrial output decreased by 4.1% in 1Q99 compared with the corresponding period of 1998, the National Statistics Agency has reported. The mining industry, which accounts for almost 1/4 of Kazakhstan's industrial product, reduced its output by 7.8%. According to the Agency, this is mostly attributed to the decrease in mining iron ore, coal, and natural gas.

At the same time, the production of non-ferrous metal ores grew by 9.1% and the production of crude oil and associated gas—by 1.9%.

The processing industry (50% of the total industrial output) has reported a general decline of 3.6% with a considerable reduction in the production of machines and equipment (by 53.4%), petroleum products (by 35.4%), and agricultural products (by 25.2%). However, the chemical industry increased its output by 16.4% and the ferrous metal industry—by 13.1%. The production of paper grew by 10.2% and transport equipment by 9.4%. (Interfax)

According to the preliminary results of a census conducted earlier this year, the population of Kazakhstan has decreased 7.8% to 14.95 million since 1989 when it numbered 16.2 million. This information was released by Chairman of the National Statistics Agency, Zhaksybek Kulikeev at a news conference on Wednesday. (Interfax)

During a visit to Iran on 10-11 April, Prime Minister Nurlan Balgimbaev met with President Mohamad Khatami and Vice President Hasan Habibi to discuss, among other issues, the legal status of the Caspian Sea and the construction of an oil pipeline from Kazakhstan to Iran via Turkmenistan. As a result of the visit, five intergovernmental trade agreements were signed, including one on renewing the suspended export of Kazakhstani crude oil to Iran (through swap transactions). (Interfax & Khabar)