The Economic Research Institute has analyzed the structure of investment in fixed capital since the beginning of 2023 and highlighted the top five trends, QazMonitor reports citing the ERI’s Telegram channel.
Investment growth slowdown
Firstly, the institute reported a slowdown in the investment growth rate from January to July 2023.
The volume of domestic investment in fixed assets amounted to ₸8.1 trillion with a growth rate of 12.4%. In February, this indicator reached 19.2%, but since then, it has been on a slow decline.
Investment in manufacturing in decline
Secondly, investment in manufacturing continues to decline, with the share of investments decreasing to 11.1% during the specified period.
The main source of financing in manufacturing is enterprises' own funds. Statewide, the Karagandy region leads in terms of investments in the manufacturing industry, attracting over ₸154.6 billion, which represents 23% of the total volume of investments.
Equity funds remain the main source of financing the economy
The analysts expanded on the concept of financing from private entities' funds as the third investment trend in the economy.
From January to July 2023, this type of investment totaled ₸6.1 trillion. However, it's noteworthy that the share of these investments decreased to 76% during this period. This decrease can be attributed to the rising share of investments funded through bank loans, which increased to 2%. Overall, since the start of the year, the total investments reached ₸170.5 billion.
Transportation and warehousing gain momentum
The report highlights the growth of investments in transportation and warehousing as the fourth trend.
Due to changes in supply chains, the importance of developing transportation infrastructure has become more apparent. The share of investments in this sector increased from 7.3% to 11.9%, amounting to ₸966.6 billion in monetary terms or 122.6% in the physical volume index.
Three regions growing significantly
Lastly, three regions saw significant growth rates of investments – the Abay region by 54.3%, the Mangystau region by 45.9%, and the West Kazakhstan region by 31.9%.
The influx of investments in the Abay region is explained by the growth of investments in construction (by 16 times), agriculture (by 2.6 times), transportation and warehousing (by 1.9 times), and real estate operations (by 1.5 times). In the Mangystau and West Kazakhstan regions, the growth is traditionally linked to the investment increase in the mining industry.