Mazhilis reviews amendments to legislative acts on implementing certain instructions of Kazakh President

The draft law ‘On amendments and additions to some legislative acts on the implementation of certain instructions of the Head of State’ was approved today by members of the Mazhilis in the first reading. It bears noting that it includes five sets of amendments aimed at further social and economic development of the country. Some of them relate to the Law on Public Procurement and exclude the right to purchase from single source. A number of amendments are being made to the Law on Natural Monopolies. As such, it introduces the possibility of changing tariffs prior to expiration in the case of taking on the balance and trust management of the networks, used in the technological cycle in the provision of regulated services. Consistent work on strengthening investments attraction to the country is also underway. Thus, in order to reduce barriers to investment as much as possible, it is proposed to eliminate the requirement for the investment project to comply with the List of priority activities.

“In order to get into this list or amend it, this amendment must be submitted to the national budget commission. This requires approval from the government agencies and can take up to six months. Considering the views of entrepreneurs and investors from practice, it was decided to shift from the list of permitted activities to the prohibited ones. This would surely make investors come in certain industries. Increased investment is expected particularly in non-oil sectors of the economy. Moreover, it will be possible to consider specific projects individually and set reciprocal obligations,” explained Kazakh Minister of National Economy Alibek Kuantyrov.