1 Karaganda Region Region is located in the center of the country. As of January 1, 2012 the area is 428 thousand square kilometers, the region's population is thousand people (8.1% of RK population). Density of population over the region per 1 km is 3.2 people (RK average – 6.1). Resource base includes the rich reserves of coal, iron and complex ores, gold, molybdenum, zinc, lead, manganese, wolfram, rock wool, optical quartz, marble, granite, gemstones, copper, oil, gas, and etc. Administrative center is Karaganda city. Administrative- territorial structure of the region includes 9 cities of regional subordination, 9 districts. The main socio-economic indicators of the region for 2011 are provided in the table. 1 Demography: Regions population was falling until 2004, thereafter it started growing. Population in 2000 was 1390 thousand people, at the beginning of 2012 – 1352 thousand people: As of January 1, 2012 Area, thousand square kilometers Share in total RK area, % Density for 1 square kilometer Index level in RK Population, thousand people Share in total RK population, % 2011 Economically active population Share in total RK EAP, % employed Share in RK index, % hired labor Share in RK index, % unemployed Share in RK index, % Monthly average nominal salary, Tenge Index level in RK Nominal population income (estimation), average per capita a month, Tenge Index level in RK Compared to previous year in % Level in RK GRP, billion Tenge Share in total RK GRP, % CPI (end of period), by December of previous year in % Index level in RK Volume of industrial product, billion Tenge Share in RK index, % Agriculture total output (services), billion Tenge Share in RK index, % Fixed asset investment, billion Tenge Share in RK index, % Retail trade, billion Tenge Share in total RK index, %

The number of employed population increases and unemployed population falls in both absolute and relative terms. For 10 years, from 2001 to 2011, the employed population has increased from 91 to 95%, while the number of unemployed people has fallen from 9 to 5%. Characteristic feature of the employed population dynamics is the growth of hired labor and the reduction of self- employed people. From 2001 to 2011 the number of hired labor grew from 69% to 81%, the number of self-employed people fell from 31 to 19%. EAP structure corresponds to the average in RK: 2 EAP was increasing at a moderate pace until In 2011 it fell to thousand people thousand people of those are employed, 38.8 thousand people are unemployed. Economically inactive population made up thousand people, which is above the level of 2000: Labor Force thousand people Economic ally inactive populatio n Economically active population Including: Unempl oyed Employed including: Hired labor Self-employed Economically active population (EAP)

Unemployment Level The changes of employed population structure are supported by a strong tendency of unemployment rate reduction from 13.5% in 2000 to 5.3% in However, the economic activity of the population is falling since 2002: 3 In 2011 unemployment rate of the region was below the average in Kazakhstan – 5.4%:

4 Quality of Life Cost of living has been growing steadily since 2003, however, the values are below the average in RK: Share of population with income used for consumption below the poverty line is decreasing and it is below the average in Kazakhstan: Life expectancy at birth in the region is increasing, but the values are below the average in Kazakhstan: Some of life quality indicators in 2011:

Enrollment share of the population aged 6-24 years has increased since 2001 and now it is above the average in RK: 5 Enrollment The number of students in technical and vocational education was increasing throughout the study period, despite the decrease of regions population: The number of children in regular preschools has increased significantly since 2001: The number of students in higher education fell from 2004 to 2008, thereafter it started growing:

Population Income Population Income Monthly average nominal salary per employee for 2011 is 77,940 Tenge, that is below the countrys average – 90,028 Tenge: In the dynamics the average nominal salary per employee and the average nominal income per capita are ever-growing. The index of the nominal and real incomes showed a decline during the economic crisis in At that time the growth of nominal income was lower than the consumer price index, i.e. revenue growth did not cover inflation: 6

Economy Despite the GRP growth, regions share in total GRP of all the regions has fallen from 11.5% in 2000 to 8.7% in 2011: GRP growth in 2011 slightly exceeds the average growth of total GRP of all the regions of Kazakhstan and makes up 128% compared to 2010, against the total value of RK %: 7

Investment Fixed assets investment tends to a stable significant growth, however, its values were slightly decreasing during the crisis in 2010: The growth of fixed assets investment in 2011 has exceeded the total level of all RK regions and made up 119.9% compared to previous year, against 107.7% of the total in RK. This tendency can be explained by the base effect from the stronger investment decrease in 2010 in the region compared to the average in RK: 8 The share of fixed assets investment in the Kazakhstans level of investment has fallen from 5.6% in 2000 to 5.0% in 2011:

Agriculture The volume of agriculture production was increasing till 2009, decreased in 2010 to 83.6 billion Tenge: 9 The share of the regions volume of production in agriculture in total Kazakhstans volume of industrys production. In % of countrys agriculture production was manufactured in the region:

Real Sector The rowth of industrial production volumes was observed throughout the study period, excluding crisis year 2009, when manufacturing volumes showed the decrease: 10 The share of industrial production in the Kazakhstans level has decreased from 15.7% in 2000 to 8.3% in 2011: Real sector industries with the highest values of production in 2010 are metallurgic industry, production and distribution of electricity, construction, agriculture, metallic ores mining, mining of coal and lignite and etc. These industries have the significant share in the total production volume of RK and regions GRP:

11 The number of industrial enterprises has decreased since 2000, however, its share in RK has grown: The number of construction companies is increasing: The number of working agricultural enterprises has slightly increased since 2000: Sector Enterprises

12 Small and Medium Business The number of registered legal entities as of October 1, 2012 is The SME number is The structure of the enterprises number is close to the RK average level: SME share of the region's GRP has been growing steadily until 2010, however, its significantly lower the average in RK:

13 Budget revenues of Karaganda region in 2011 amounted to 168 trillion Tenge, including 88.1 trillion Tenge of transfers from the national budget. Expenses amounted to trillion Tenge, including 1.6 trillion Tenge of transfers to the national budget. Thus, the region is subventional: Interbudgetary Relations

Karaganda Region Development Program for Main target indicators: GRP increase in real terms by 30% in 2015 compared to 2009 level; Reduce energy intensity of GRP at least by 10% of 2008 level by 2015; Investments in non-primary sector of the economy shall grow to at least 29% by 2020 The real growth of industrial production shall be 104% in average compared to the previous year; An increase of the share of the manufacturing industry in GRP to not less than 44.5% by 2015; The real growth of the manufacturing industry shall be 104.5% in average compared to the previous year; An increase of the labor productivity in the manufacturing industry at least by 96.9%; An increase of the share of non-resource exports in total exports at least to 14.2% by 2015; An increase of the coal production to 35 million tons ( million tons); An increase of GVA of the metallurgical industry to at least 107% based on deep processing of mineral raw materials and creating new processing (in 2009 – billion Tenge); An increase of the production of the metallurgical industry by 2 times (2009 – billion Tenge); An increase of the labor productivity in the metallurgical industry by minimum2 times ( thousand Tenge per 1 employed or 42.4 thousand U.S. dollars at the exchange rate of 1 USD Tenge); GVA growth in the machine industry by 64% ( ,5 billion Tenge); An increase of the labor productivity in the machine industry to 65 thousand U.S. dollars by 2015 ( thousand U.S. dollars at the exchange rate of 1 USD = 146 Tenge); An increase of GVA in the construction industry at least by 76% ( ,8 billion Tenge); An increase of GVA in the chemical production by 1.9 times ( million Tenge); An increase of the export of chemical products of high processing by 1.7 times by 2015; An increase of the proportion of local content in the procurement of government agencies and organizations, strategic enterprises – for procurement of goods up to 60% and of services to more than 90%; An increase of the share of SMEs in the GRP ( up to 16%); To reduce operating costs of registering and doing business by 30% by 2015; An increase of the the gross agricultural output by 2015 to 90.8 billion Tenge; An increase of the labor productivity in the agricultural sector in 2015 by 2 times or to 1641 thousand Tenge; Life expectancy of the population in 2015 to 70 years ( years); Reduce total mortality to 7.7 per 1,000 in 2015 ( ); Coverage of preschool education and upbringing ( %) - 100% in 2013 and 2015; The unemployment rate in 2015 shall be 5.7% ( %); The share of the population with income below the minimum cost of living in 2015 shall be 4%. 14