This information comes from the assessment conducted in country for the Kazakhstan report, which was published in 1999.
Kazakhstan sits at an international crossroads, linked to Russia and Central Asia as well as the Indian Subcontinent, China, and the Middle East. Its mineral reserves (oil, gas, gold, and others) generate great interest from Western investors and international policy makers. At various levels, it is a meeting ground of East and West. The success or failure of reforms can provide valuable lessons for reformers in other transition economies.
Kazakhstan is strongly committed, at the highest decision-making levels, to a market economy and its concomitant reforms. In the few years since independence, the government has adopted numerous new laws, courted foreign investment, and made substantial moves toward a market-oriented economy. One result of this work is that Kazakhstan has the highest level of per-capita foreign direct investment of any of the former Soviet republics, including Russia.
But not all Kazakhstanis are so enamored of the changes. In the hinterlands – at the oblast level – there is much resistance to the new rules that come with market reform, though certainly not in all oblasts. Complaints are frequently heard that new laws are "Western" and ill fitting. Foreign investors find poor treatment and unnecessary difficulties in dealing with regional officials. While there is a wide range of reactions to these changes, there is also a wide gap between the new "modern" laws and their implementation and enforcement.
As indicated in the report, Kazakhstan ranks behind Poland in all areas, but rates fairly evenly with or ahead of Ukraine. The economy contracted substantially through 1996, though not as badly as Ukraine's. While the government portion of the economy is less than in Poland and Ukraine, the private sector has been unable to increase the overall GDP. Kazakhstan also trails Poland and Romania in credibility, while surpassing Ukraine, but is last in economic freedom. Government may be changing, but the investment in change at the top has not yet percolated through the country as a whole sufficiently to affect these indicators.
