Kazakhstan is not to expect extra inflow of investment as result of Ukranian events - expert opinion

Almaty. April 4. Silkroadnews - Kazakhstan is not to expect extra inflow of investment as a result of recent events in Ukraine. At the same time, any outflow of investment away from Russia is not expected either in regards to the Ukranian situation. This opinion is expressed by the analyst of Investment Research Agency, Erlen Badykhan.
"The fact of declining investment interest towards Russia alone is not sufficient to increase investment interest in Kazakhstan, in my opinion. There should be certain pre-existing conditions that would increase the lucrativeness of investing in Kazakhstan", Mister Badykhan said to KazTAG.
He said that Kazakstan's investment lucrativeness "has significantly declined in recent years".
According to his evaluation, natural resources sector remains to be the most lucrative option of investing in Kazakhstan. Over three fourth of all FDI in the country ends up in natural resources industry.
However, the analyst doesn't exclude the possibility of indirect risks for Kazakhstan that are related to the recent Ukranian events.
"These may come in form of slower investment growth in the event of sanctions being enforced against Russia, as Russian economy is tightly intertwined with Kazakhstan's. As for the other trade partners, net export between Russia and Ukraine has been inconsiderably low in the recent years and had a tendency towards further decline", concludes Mister Badykhan. This opinion goes against popular public belief that investors are to increase FDI in Kazakstan, while decreasing its FDI levels in Russia.