What is the Kazakhstan Tenge (KZT)?

Credit Ratings & Outlook

In the latest credit ratings from December 1970, Moody's gives Kazakhstan a Baa2 rating, with a stable outlook. Fitch has a positive outlook with a BBB rating. Finally, S&P last issued a BBB+ rating, with a stable outlook.

Sovereign credit ratings play an important part in determining a country’s access to international capital markets, and the terms of that access. Sovereign ratings help to foster dramatic growth, stability, and efficiency of international and domestic markets.

Central Bank Rate

The current central bank interest rate is 6.50%. This is lower than 2011, which was 7.50%.

GDP

In 2010 the total GDP was $149,058,911,550 in US Dollars, while the per capita GDP was $9,131. It grew by 7.30% over the previous year.

Unemployment

The latest unemployment rate for 2010 is 6.10%.

Consumer Price Index

The latest consumer price index for 2010 is 161.97.

Political Structure

The current head of the government is Prime Minister Karim Massimov, and the head of state is President Nursultan Nazarbayev (in an executive role).

Currency Details

The tenge, often denoted by KZT, is the official unit of currency of Kazakhstan. The currency is subdivided into 100 tiyin, and was introduced in November 1993 after the fall of the USSR to replace the Russian ruble. The name tenge means “balance” or “scale” in Kazakh, and is closely related to the Russian word daingey and the Chinese word tengse.

Moody’s Rating

Baa2, 09 Jun 2006

S&P Rating

BBB

Sovereign credit ratings play an important part in determining a country’s access to international capital markets, and the terms of that access. Sovereign ratings help to foster dramatic growth, stability, and efficiency of international and domestic markets.

What does it look like?

Political Structure

Kazakhstan’s government is a republic consisting of three branches: the executive, legislative, and judiciary. The head of the executive branch is the president, who is elected every seven years. The president has the responsibility of electing his Cabinet of Ministers. The legislature consists of a bicameral body with a Senate and a Majilis, where the senate has 39 seats and the Majilis has 77 seats. The judicial branch consists of the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court.

Prominent Figures

Chief of State President Nursultan A. NAZARBAYEV (chairman of the Supreme Soviet from 22 February 1990, elected president 1 December 1991)
Head of Government Prime Minister Karim MASIMOV (since 10 January 2007); First Deputy Prime Minister Umirzak SHUKEYEV (since 3 March 2009), Deputy Prime Ministers Yerbol ORYNBAYEV (since 29 October 2007), Aset ISEKESHEV (since 12 March 2010)
Cabinet Council of Ministers appointed by the president
Elections president elected by popular vote for a five-year term; election last held 4 December 2005 (next to be held in 2012); prime minister and first deputy prime minister appointed by the president, with Mazhilis approval; note – constitutional amendments of May 2007 shortened the presidential term from seven years to five years and established a two-consecutive-term limit; changes will take effect after NAZARBAYEV’s term ends; he, and only he, is allowed to run for president indefinitely
Election Results Nursultan A. NAZARBAYEV reelected president; percent of vote – Nursultan A. NAZARBAYEV 91.1%, Zharmakhan A. TUYAKBAY 6.6%, Alikhan M. BAYMENOV 1.6%

Key Economic Factors

While many countries in the Middle East thrive on their oil reserves, Jordan is an exception in this trend. The country’s landlocked position brings with it scarce water supplies and an inadequate supply of natural resources (namely oil and coal). As such shortages often translate into problems such as debt, poverty and unemployment, Jordan relies on foreign aid from its oil-rich neighboring countries. Recently, Jordan has been trying harder to improve its living standards by engaging in economic reform. Since King Abdallah has taken throne, he has worked very closely with the IMF, been careful when implementing monetary policy, made considerable progress with privatization, and relaxed the trade regime just enough so that it has assured Jordan’s membership in the World Trade Organization. All of these actions have helped Jordan become more productive and put it on the foreign investment map. Jordan’s main goals are to reduce its reliance on foreign aid, lower its budget deficit, and increase incentives to invest in order to encourage job creation.