The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, or EBRD, is encouraging Kazakhstan to continue efforts to diversify its commodities-driven economy and not to rely on a price move for economic growth, the bank president said Wednesday.
"We would certainly think that this is the moment in which countries like Kazakhstan should not rely too much on the recovery of commodity prices," Thomas Mirow told reporters during his visit to Kazakhstan's commercial capital Almaty.
He said that Kazakhstan should do "the utmost to diversify its real economy."
Mirow told also Dow Jones Newswires in Almaty that in its new strategy for Kazakhstan the EBRD would "try to draw lessons from the crisis and try to help build recovery in the country."
"It is certainly very much about trying to help Kazakhstan in its efforts to diversify its real economy," Mirow said in an interview.
He said the bank would also continue its involvement in stabilizing the financial sector and focus on important infrastructure projects.
Mirow told a briefing that "the bank cleaning in Kazakhstan is on its way but it is not finished yet," when asked about his assessment of state efforts to stabilize the country's banking sector.
"We would have to see whether it is done in a way that would not impede foreign investments in the country," Mirow said.
The EBRD will have invested $700-$800 million in Kazakhstan this year, Mirow told Dow Jones Newswires. The amount of investment for next year "would basically be the same."
He said the bank's investments in Kazakhstan's financial sector would be determined by Kazakh banks' needs.
The EBRD signed an agreement Wednesday with Kazakhstan's Bank CenterCredit (CCBN.KZ) to extend $50 million credit-line for lending to small and medium enterprises in Kazakhstan.
"With this latest transaction the EBRD's commitment to the Kazakh financial sector has reached $1 billion," the bank said in a statement, adding that it has invested more than $2.3 billion in various sectors of Kazakhstan's economy.
Mirow also told reporters "the EBRD continues to strongly encourage Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan to join the WTO as soon as possible."