Published: 04 February 2015 г.
High-level representatives from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) discussed the process of transition in the EBRD region and the latest economic forecast in Almaty and Astana this week.
They also commented on a record year for EBRD investments in Kazakhstan, which reached about US$ 700 million in 2014, a 50 per cent rise on 2013.
The EBRD was represented by Olivier Descamps, EBRD Managing Director, Countries of Operations; Mattia Romani, Managing Director for Country and Sector Economics at the Office of the Chief Economist; Janet Heckman, EBRD Director for Kazakhstan; and Agris Preimanis, Lead Economist for Central Asia.
The Transition Report, an annual publication prepared by the EBRD’s Office of the Chief Economist, analyses the process of transition to open market-oriented economies in the countries where the Bank invests.
The Transition Report 2014 looks at innovation by individual companies across the transition region and reveals how innovation can help increase productivity and economic growth, and re-energise transition. The Report takes a broad perspective on innovation – studying how firms innovate – and whether they do this by copying advanced economies or by developing products and processes themselves.
A key theme in the latest report is that regardless of a country’s level of economic development and regardless of its progress along the transition path, corporate managers can make decisions that have a profound effect on the efficiency and productivity of the businesses they run.
Governments can do a great deal to unleash this potential, but in order to determine the right measures for any given country they must work closely with the private sector.
The EBRD’s Regional Economic Prospects, a regular analysis and economic forecast, show that the dropping of oil prices by 50 per cent since mid-2014 and the softening of other commodity prices have been a double-edged sword for countries where the EBRD works, slowing growth in the region. According to the EBRD’s forecast, Kazakhstan’s GDP will grow by 1.5 per cent in 2015.