The Ministry of Energy, Industry and Trade issued a press release on 11 March saying that it will raise import duties on some commodities in April in order to protect domestic producers. The commodities include furniture, cement, agricultural items, foodstuffs, and electric household appliances. The Kazakhstani Government has also prepared a decree aimed at prohibiting the imports of poor quality items to Kazakhstan. The press release says that these measures will encourage fair competition between domestically produced and imported commodities on the home market. (Reuters)

The Kazakhstani Government has decided to abolish its import duty on crude oil in order to support the national oil refineries. The import duty has been Euro 15 per one tonne of crude oil or gas condensate. According to the Ministry of Energy, Industry and Trade, which commented on the governmental decision, this measure will, in particular, stimulate production at the Pavlodar Oil Refinery (POR). This refinery, which is the largest of the three Kazakhstani oil refineries, is based in the north of the country and is designed to process a Siberian blend. "The best option for Pavlodar is to purchase crude oil from Russia's producers. In order that POR's products can compete with products from the two other refineries, the excise import tax on crude oil has been removed," says a press release from the Ministry.

The government has also reduced the excise tax on gasoline to Euro 50 from Euro 64 per one tonne with the aim to activate the petroleum products market. (Reuters)

Speaking to the Kazakhstani Parliament on Thursday, 11 March, the Finance Minister, Uraz Dhandosov, said that his Ministry cannot raise the yields on Kazakhstani state securities above a reasonable level. "And we consider an annual yield of 25% a reasonable level," he said. According to him, Kazakhstan has repaid KZT 10bn (USD 113m) more than it raised on the governmental securities market since the beginning of the year. This is compared to KZT 1bn last year. Dzandosov attributed the falling demand for domestic government securities to investor expectations of the Tenge's devaluation, which would mean lower revenues in dollar terms. The government forecasts that the Tenge will devalue by 10% this year. However, market players expect a 20-30% drop. "We are counting on a primary budget deficit, not a surplus. That is, we hope to borrow more than we repay," Dzhandosov said. (Reuters)

According to Finance Minister Uraz Dzandosov, in the first two months of 1999, Kazakhstan raised KZT 17.3bn (USD 200m) in privatisation revenues. This was almost entirely due to Mobil Corporation's payment of USD 200m under a 1996 agreement to purchase 25% of the shares in the TengizChevroil oil project in Western Kazakhstan. The U.S.-based Chevron is the major shareholder in the project with a 45% stake. Kazakhstan retains 25% in the project, and other shareholders include Russia's LUKoil and the U.S.A.'s Arco. (Reuters)