ic representation from the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador A. Elizabeth JONES
embassy: 99/97 Furmanova Street, Almaty, Republic of Kazakhstan 480012
mailing address: use embassy street address
telephone: [7] (3272) 63-39-05, 63-13-75, 63-24-26
FAX: [7] (3272) 63-38-83

Flag description: sky blue background representing the endless sky and
a gold sun with 32 rays soaring above a golden steppe eagle in the
center; on the hoist side is a "national ornamentation" in yellow

@Kazakhstan:Economy

Economy-overview: Kazakhstan, the second largest of the former Soviet
republics in territory, possesses enormous untapped fossil fuel
reserves as well as plentiful supplies of other minerals and metals.
It also has considerable agricultural potential with its vast steppe
lands accommodating both livestock and grain production. Kazakhstan's
industrial sector rests on the extraction and processing of these
natural resources and also on a relatively large machine building
sector specializing in construction equipment, tractors, agricultural
machinery, and some defense items. The breakup of the USSR and the
collapse of demand for Kazakhstan's traditional heavy industry
products have resulted in a sharp contraction of the economy since
1991, with the steepest annual decline occurring in 1994. In 1995-97
the pace of the government program of economic reform and
privatization quickened, resulting in a substantial shifting of assets
into the private sector. The December 1996 signing of the Caspian
Pipeline Consortium agreement to build a new pipeline from western
Kazakhstan's Tengiz oil field to the Black Sea increases prospects for
substantially larger oil exports in several years. The emigration of
large numbers of skilled Slavic managers and technicians from the
northern industrial areas will hold back future growth.

GDP: purchasing power parity-$50 billion (1997 est.)

GDP-real growth rate: 2.1% (1997 est.)

GDP-per capita: purchasing power parity-$3,000 (1997 est.)

GDP-composition by sector:
agriculture: 12%
industry: 25%
services: 63% (1996 est.)

Inflation rate-consumer price index: 12% (1997 est.)

Labor force:
total: 6.9 million
by occupation: industry 27%, agriculture and forestry 23%, other 50%
(1996)

Unemployment rate: 2.6% includes only officially registered
unemployed; also large additional numbers of unemployed and
underemployed workers (December 1996 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $3 billion
expenditures: $