Kazakhstan drafts 2022 budget with deficit at 3.3% of GDP

NUR-SULTAN: Kazakhstan's government has drafted its 2022 budget with a deficit at 3.3% of gross domestic product (GDP), down from 3.5% this year, Economy Minister Aset Irgaliyev said on Tuesday.

The Central Asian nation plans to produce 87.9 million tonnes of oil, its main export, and expects its economy to grow 3.9% next year, he told a government meeting. This year, Kazakhstan is set to produce 86 million tonnes of oil.

Kazakhstan plans to tap its rainy-day National Fund for 2.95 trillion tenge ($6.95 billion) next year, down from 4.55 trillion tenge this year, and further reduce transfers to 2.6 trillion tenge and 2.4 trillion tenge in 2023 and 2024 respectively.

Central bank governor Yerbolat Dosayev told the same meeting that the bank expected Kazakhstan to post a current account deficit of 1.2% of GDP next year before swinging into surplus the following year.