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KAZAKHSTAN SEES INFLATION RATE OF 6.8 PERCENT
IN 2003
Text of report by Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency
Almaty, 5 January: In 2003 the consumer price index - which
is seen as an indicator of the inflation rate - amounted to
6.8 per cent in Kazakhstan, up from 6.6 per cent in 2002,
Interfax-Kazakhstan was told today at the [Kazakh] National
Statistics Agency.
Statistics show that the prices of food products went up
by 7.1 per cent in 2003, whilst the prices of non-food commodities
and fee-based services to people rose by 6.9 per cent and
5.9 per cent respectively.
In December 2003 the inflation rate in the country ran to
0.9 per cent. The prices of food products rose by 1.5 per
cent, and the prices of non-food goods and fee-based services
rose by 0.3 per cent and 0.4 per cent respectively.
The Kazakh government and the National Bank forecast that
the average annual inflation rate in 2003 would be some 6.1
per cent.
According to the National Bank's monetary management policy
for 2004, the real annual inflation rate is forecast to be
between 5 and 7 per cent on average this year, whilst the
average annual basic inflation rate, which was introduced
as of 2004, is forecast to be 4 or 6 per cent.
Source: Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency, Almaty, in Russian
0511 gmt 5 Jan 04
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