Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said the nation wouldn't tap into its $23 billion oil fund to weather the effects of the world financial crisis, according to his office late Thursday.
Nazarbayev said that the government would instead use a newly introduced customs duty on crude oil export to make up 170 billion tenge ($1.4 billion) for social needs.
The government Tuesday introduced crude oil export duties of around $15 a barrel at the average world oil price of $714 a ton. Kazakhstan produces about 1.4 million barrels of oil and gas condensate a day.
The Kazakh government collects its oil revenues in the National (Oil) Fund that is managed by the country's central bank.
Nazarbayev also said that the government's main priority for this and next year would be to curb inflation instead of keeping up economic growth.
Inflation in 2007 reached 18.8%, up from 8.4% a year earlier. This year's target is 7.9%-9.9%.
Kazakhstan was hit hard by a global credit crunch last fall and saw its economic growth slow down to 8.5% in 2007 from 10.6%. This year's economic growth is expected to further slow to 5%-7%.