SCO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO,
WToO, WTrO (applicant)

Diplomatic representation in the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Bolat K. NURGALIYEV
chancery: 1401 16th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036
consulate(s): New York

Diplomatic representation from the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Richard H. JONES
embassy: 99/97A Furmanova Street, Almaty, Republic of Kazakhstan
480091
mailing address: American Embassy Almaty, Department of State,
Washington, DC 20521-7030

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

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. Kazakhstan's economy turned downward in
1998 with a 2.5% decline in GDP growth due to slumping oil prices
and the August financial crisis in Russia. 1999 will also be a
difficult year.

GDP: purchasing power parity--$52.9 billion (1998 est.)

GDP--real growth rate: -2.5% (1998 est.)

GDP--per capita: purchasing power parity?$3,100 (1998 est.)

GDP--composition by sector:
agriculture: 11.5%
industry: 32.6%
services: 55.9% (1997 est.)

Population below poverty line: NA%

Household inc