The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development invested about seven billion euros in Kazakhstan’s economy in 25 years. According to the EBRD president Suma Chakrabarti, Kazakhstan is among the top five states with which the Bank has established close business relationship.

SUMA CHAKRABARTI, EBRD PRESIDENT:

I think these 25 years has seen a real progress in terms of development, social development, and I give a strong praise to the leadership of Kazakhstan, to the president Nazarbayev who’ve really driven this process of change of those 25 years. It also happens that the EBRD’s 25 years anniversary too. So we are unified in our birthdays. And I think that it is in a way is very symbolic.

Kazakhstan and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development will continue fruitful cooperation. The EBRD plans to allocate 800 million to 1 billion euros to Kazakhstan’s economy. This year, the amount of financial investments is expected to reach 900 million euros, which will be directed to support more than 30 projects. The projects mostly cover the spheres as the development of agriculture, infrastructure and energy efficiency, as well as small and medium-sized businesses.

JANET HECKMAN, COUNTRY DIRECTOR FOR KAZAKHSTAN, EBRD:

EBRD continues to be very optimistic about the future prospects for the Kazakhstani economy. This year’s investments in Kazakhstan are record 815 million euros so far, making it the second largest country of investments for EBRD globally.

According to the bank’s analysts, Kashagan field can become a good support for the economy. This was stressed by the representatives of the EBRD, summing up the results of the year. If the production at the field increases to 300,000 barrels of oil per day, Kazakhstan’s GDP may grow by 0.5 percent. The current daily volume of oil production at Kashagan reaches about 120,000 barrels per day. In general, the EBRD management positively assesses the state of Kazakhstan's economy. The projects in which the bank has invested, are being successfully implemented and, therefore, the volume of investments will further increase.