An extended meeting of the Government was held under the chairmanship of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. The meeting was attended by Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov, Head of the Presidential Administration Murat Nurtleu, members of the Government, Chairman of the National Bank, akims of regions and cities of Astana, Almaty and Shymkent, heads of central government bodies and national companies.
In his speech, the head of state summed up the socio-economic development of the country for this year and outlined key tasks for the coming period.
"A lot of topical issues have accumulated. Over the 11 months of this year, economic growth slowed down from 4.6% to 2.7%. Inflation reached historic highs over the past 14 years, amounting to 19.6%. Of course, this situation has the most negative impact on the level life and income of the population. The past presidential elections have demonstrated the support of citizens for the course pursued by the state. The people are waiting for real changes, and not in the distant future, but here and now. We must justify the trust of the people," the president said.
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev recalled that in his election program he presented a new course aimed primarily at increasing the income and quality of life of citizens. In this context, he considers it important to focus on the following areas of work.
As one of the priority areas, the Head of State outlined the solution of issues of housing and communal services. He noted that everyday issues that should be resolved at the level of villages and cities have reached the level of the Government, since various emergency situations in this area have become commonplace. A series of accidents in Petropavlovsk, Temirtau, Stepnogorsk, Balkhash, Karaganda, Aktobe and Ridder did not lead to a proper response from akims, ministers and, most importantly, owners.
“The recent collapse in Ekibastuz finally showed how neglected the situation in this industry is. Due to the irresponsibility of officials, the failure of the current supervision system, thousands of people were left without heat. at his request, he was dismissed from his post. At the same time, the authorized state body represented by the Ministry of Energy did not show itself in such a situation and tried to eliminate the problem on its own. Also, the emergency response service did not work well enough and quickly," Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said.
According to the president, the proposal to sell the state for 1 tenge Ekibastuz thermal power plant, the wear of which exceeds 90%, requires an examination. In his opinion, an independent audit of the facility should be carried out. It is necessary to carefully study and understand how the state is able to effectively manage the emergency facility. It is advisable for the state to return 50% of the enterprise, and to instruct the owner to carry out a major overhaul of the CHP.
"The cost of compensation for damage to the residents of Ekibastuz should be distributed between the owner and the republican budget. In general, the Government will have to comprehensively consider and make a decision on each critical infrastructure facility, where the owners have not done anything in recent years," the head of state said.
Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev stressed that the average depreciation of thermal power plants in the country has reached 66%, and in some cities it already exceeds the critical level of 80%. A third of the CHPPs have already been in operation for more than half a century. In the cities of Ridder and Shemonaikha of the East Kazakhstan region, the heat supply networks are completely worn out. At the same time, he pointed out that he had repeatedly instructed the Government to take control of the timely modernization of energy facilities. In addition, as he said, the akimats will also not be able to withdraw themselves, blaming everything on the center.
"A special Commission under the Presidential Administration, created on my instructions, has developed a set of measures. They concern both strengthening control and supervision functions, and increasing the responsibility of owners and the overall efficiency of the industry. The Commission identified 19 problematic CHPPs whose infrastructure requires urgent modernization. According to preliminary data, about 90 billion tenge will need to be found for these purposes. It is clear that these funds must be provided for within the tariff estimates of energy enterprises. State-owned energy facilities must be repaired at the expense of the budget. And private ones must be modernized at their own expense within the framework of the Tariff in exchange for investments. "The government should promptly begin to solve this problem," the president stressed.
Further, the head of state focused on another priority area - improving the social well-being of citizens.
"The main factor in the growth of inflation remains the rise in the cost of food products in all key groups. Food inflation has exceeded 24%. Real cash incomes of the population demonstrate the lowest growth rates over the past 5 years. Almost 900 thousand people in the country are formally employed, temporarily unemployed, unproductively self-employed and the unemployed. The main document in this area is the Program to increase the income of the population. It should be brought into line with the realities of today," Kassym-Jomart Tokayev emphasized.
As the next important task that needs to be addressed, the president named industrial injuries, which are becoming an extremely urgent and serious problem.
"Over 11 months, 1,124 employees were injured at the production site, 157 of them died. At some enterprises, accidents with human casualties have become systemic. We are talking, among other things, about ArcelorMittal Temirtau. Since 2006, more than 20 accidents have occurred at the enterprise , which claimed the lives of more than 100 of our citizens.This year alone, 14 people died, including 1 worker last week.According to reports from state bodies and public organizations, the company violates labor, environmental and tax laws, does not fulfill investment obligations.The society is waiting for fair and urgent measures. Control directly over the Prime Minister," the head of state said.
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev drew attention to the fact that, on his instructions, a unified system of investment projects was formed, while only 43 of the 284 planned investment projects were implemented this year.
"Behind these dry figures are tens of thousands of uncreated jobs, billions of tenge that have not started working for the economy. It should be noted that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is doing quite effective work to attract the interest of foreign investors. Ambassadors meet abroad, as they say, "hand in hand "They bring investors to us. Problems begin at the implementation stage, on the ground. In a word, we simply lose investors on the spot. Therefore, I emphasize once again that support for the implementation of investment projects, that is, land, permits, infrastructure, is the area of responsibility of akims" , the head of state said.
As the president said, the issue of pricing is also a very urgent problem. He noted that work to prevent the rise in food prices should be carried out in the main areas.
"The rise in food prices largely depends on seasonality. Prices for almost free goods in autumn skyrocket in spring. The solution is to create a storage infrastructure. However, work to reduce the shortage of vegetable stores is slow. Last year, 64,000 tons of capacity were commissioned against the plan 83 thousand tons, or 77%. This year the situation is better - with a plan of 98 thousand tons, capacities for 87 thousand tons were commissioned. But we need to catch up. It is very important to understand that in the current conditions food security is a basic condition for the progress of the country as a whole. Development The agro-industrial complex and especially agricultural processing should be a priority in the activities of the Government and akims, the head of state emphasized.
According to Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, an important direction is to pursue a fair and effective economic policy. only fair competition, honesty in doing business can become the basis for building a fair market economy.
"An interdepartmental Commission on Demonopolization of the Economy has been created, which is doing the necessary and quite effective work. However, the main emphasis today is on the return of unreasonably privatized assets. At the same time, important issues of denationalization, non-interference of monopolists in the activities of related markets do not receive due attention. It is important to reduce administrative barriers and price pressure on markets. A clear example of the monopolization of markets is the production and supply of electricity, where vertical monopoly groups restrict access to markets for independent suppliers. We have begun to introduce the institution of a single purchaser of electricity. Thus, we will eliminate unproductive intermediation and diversion of funds from the producers themselves. As a result, the country should receive balanced prices for all regions and organizations",Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said.
Then the president dwelled on the issue of budgetary policy.
"The government needs to achieve budget stability and get rid of chronic dependence on transfers from the National Fund. In a year, half of the investment income of the National Fund will be allocated to children. This means that all citizens will closely monitor the state of affairs in the National Fund. Everyone's involvement in national wealth is not empty words. This is the beginning of truly popular, public control," the president stressed.
The head of state recalled that the Government and the National Bank were tasked with increasing the assets of the National Fund by $100 billion over the next 7 years. The President drew attention to the need to reduce financial expenses and increase the flow of income to the National Fund.
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev pointed out a number of serious problems in the field of subsoil use.
"The Prosecutor General's Office, together with the Anti-Corruption Service, revealed violations at all stages of subsoil use. For example, the State Subsoil Fund Management Program contains distorted and outdated data. 143 licenses and contracts for exploration were illegally issued at fields already ready for production with approved reserves. Illegally granted 87 deposits of valuable minerals to social-entrepreneurial corporations, which, bypassing competitions, transferred them for a pittance to private companies. I instruct the Government, together with the Prosecutor General's Office, to take measures to return the deposits transferred with violations to state ownership," the head of state said.
As Kassym-Jomart Tokayev noted, the task of developing rural areas requires special attention. He recalled that his first Decree within the framework of the new presidential powers was the instruction to develop a Concept for the Development of Rural Territories. In his opinion, the need for completely new, and most importantly, implementable approaches to the revival of the village is important.
"Many villagers have land plots in use, but they cannot use them for their own benefit. Food security issues have become one of the main ones on the world agenda. In our country, despite the rich grain harvest this year, the average yield remains at low level. Farmers should be motivated to increase production efficiency and use new modern technologies. Special attention should be paid to the development of agricultural processing. Despite the annual allocation of more than 350 billion tenge of subsidies for the development of the agro-industrial complex, there is no growth in the production of products with a high value added. Plans within the framework of the National project for the development of the agro-industrial complex," the head of state said.
Separately, the president dwelled on the problem of lending to the economy and reducing the debt load of the population.
I consider it expedient for the Government and financial regulators to consider the possibility of increasing the terms of subsidizing remuneration rates to 7 years within the framework of the "Economy of Simple Things" program. Of course, this should only affect the most priority sectors of the economy," Kassym-Jomart Tokayev emphasized.
The head of state also stated the need to "decrease the degree" of excessive consumer lending.
"Today, the volume of problem loans has reached half a trillion tenge. More than a million people are no longer able to pay their obligations. Many of them, reaching despair, are forced to take out new loans to pay off the old ones. Therefore, from January 1, 2023, the Law "On rehabilitation and bankruptcy of individuals. "In addition, it is necessary to regulate unsecured online microcredit more strictly. This experience should be studied," Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said.
The President focused on the importance of carrying out the administrative reform initiated by him. Its main goal will be a significant increase in the efficiency and independence of the work of executive authorities.
"The current laws do not give full independence to state bodies. In order to adopt normative legal acts in their field, their competence must be approved at the legislative level. The actual implementation of instructions is far behind, untimely measures are losing their relevance. In order to solve this problem, legislation is already being introduced amendments that will allow government agencies to take the necessary actions within their sectoral competence," the head of state said.
Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev pointed out that the analysis carried out by the presidential administration showed that almost half of the functions of the Government come down to the collective approval of sectoral decisions developed by authorized state bodies.
"The Government has a different function - it must coordinate and manage. As part of the new administrative reform, it is necessary to modernize rule-making practice and decentralize functions between levels of government. In this regard, I instruct the Government to conduct a systematic revision of legislative acts, retaining only key tasks and powers at the level of laws The development of sectoral policies, their implementation and control should be transferred from the level of the Government to the level of central state bodies. Similar work on the redistribution of functions between the center and regions must be completed within 2023," the President said.
The head of state said that a project office was launched in the presidential administration, which oversees the most important national projects ("Comfortable School", "Rural Health Care", key investment projects).
“In the world, having skills in the field of project management has already become a generally accepted standard for state managers. Here, we have to explain why this is necessary, to persuade performers to work together with the office. Akims must restructure. But heads of project offices should also be closer to the ground think realistically, act pragmatically. You need to be able to change along with life, otherwise the lag is inevitable. The upcoming changes depend on the quality of human capital. The new personnel policy should be based on the principles of meritocracy and professionalism," the head of state said.
In addition, the president said that next year large-scale personnel changes will be carried out in the center and in the field. According to him, the chiefs will have to say goodbye to "their people." They will be replaced by new staff. Kazakhstan needs effective technocrats.
Being an effective manager in corporate governance does not mean doing whatever you want. Appointments of candidates should be as open and fair as possible, since these institutions belong to the people. The Presidential Administration must constantly monitor appointments in the public and quasi-public sectors. Any action directed against the interests of individuals must be stopped. The Civil Service Agency should create favorable conditions for attracting qualified professionals from the private sector to the civil service. If we want to develop our country, we must all join our efforts," Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev stressed. The Presidential Administration must constantly monitor appointments in the public and quasi-public sectors. Any action directed against the interests of individuals must be stopped. The Civil Service Agency should create favorable conditions for attracting qualified professionals from the private sector to the civil service. If we want to develop our country, we must all join our efforts," Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev stressed. The Presidential Administration must constantly monitor appointments in the public and quasi-public sectors. Any action directed against the interests of individuals must be stopped. The Civil Service Agency should create favorable conditions for attracting qualified professionals from the private sector to the civil service. If we want to develop our country, we must all join our efforts," Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev stressed.
The head of state criticized the performance activities of state bodies. In his opinion, a formal approach to the execution of instructions remains in the work of the state apparatus. For various reasons, deadlines are delayed and repeatedly postponed.
Heads of state bodies are still afraid to make independent decisions on certain issues. Government agencies refer to various far-fetched arguments and try to get the approval of the President or the leadership of the Presidential Administration. Sometimes it is necessary to give written instructions to members of the Government, otherwise, there is a danger of not fulfilling tasks, disrupting the implementation of projects. As part of the Decree on debureaucratization, we banned the submission to the Presidential Administration of documents on current issues that fall within the competence of the Government and authorized state bodies. However, this practice has not yet been eradicated," the President said. Sometimes it is necessary to give written instructions to members of the Government, otherwise, there is a danger of not fulfilling tasks, disrupting the implementation of projects. As part of the Decree on debureaucratization, we banned the submission to the Presidential Administration of documents on current issues that fall within the competence of the Government and authorized state bodies. However, this practice has not yet been eradicated," the President said. Sometimes it is necessary to give written instructions to members of the Government, otherwise, there is a danger of not fulfilling tasks, disrupting the implementation of projects. As part of the Decree on debureaucratization, we banned the submission to the Presidential Administration of documents on current issues that fall within the competence of the Government and authorized state bodies. However, this practice has not yet been eradicated," the President said.
During the meeting, Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov also made a report on the development of the country and plans for the next year, Chairman of the National Bank Galymzhan Pirmatov on the country's monetary policy, First Deputy Prime Minister Roman Sklyar reported on the restoration work in Ekibastuz. The head of state listened to the reports of the akims of the city of Almaty and the Mangistau and Ulytau regions and gave each of them specific instructions.
By the Kazakhstanskaya Pravda
