Energy-rich Kazakhstan projects its GDP growth to stand at 8.6% in 2007. Last year, Kazakhstan's GDP expanded to 10.6%.
Karim Masimov said industrial output grew 9.6%, the gross product of agriculture increased 3.7% and fixed capital investment expanded 7.1% in the reporting period.
"Kazakhstan's foreign trade grew more than 50% in the first two months of the year alone to $10.5 billion," Masimov said.
The unemployment rate dropped from 8.2% to 7.7% in the first quarter of 2007, Vice Minister of Economy and Budget Planning of Kazakhstan Viktor Suprun told a government meeting.
"The number of unemployed fell to 624,000 and the unemployment rate was down from 8.2% to 7.7% among the economically active population," Suprun said.
According to him, real money incomes for Kazakhs increased 17.6%, and real wages grew 16.5% in January-February 2007, with the average wage totaling 45,700 tenges ($380).
At the same time, wages grew faster than labor productivity (7.3%) in the first quarter of 2007, Suprun said.
Kazakhstan's international reserves increased 12.7% in the first quarter of 2007 to $37.4 billion, he said.
Kazakhstan's government debt, excluding mutual claims, stood at 1.45 trillion tenges ($12 billion) as of April 1, 2007, Finance Minister Natalya Korzhova said.
The minister said domestic liabilities prevailed in the government debt portfolio while foreign debt accounted for 34.6%.
