President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev addresses the joint session of the Parliament chambers in Astana and listed five initiatives aimed at social upgrading, Kazpravda.kz reports.
"We need mechanisms to provide cheap resources, when every worker can buy an apartment on credit. I propose to launch a program called "7-20-25 ", that is, every working Kazakhstani will have an opportunity to get a mortgage loan in tenge under the following terms: the interest rate on the loan is not more than 7% per year, not the present 14-16%, and the loan repayment period should not be 10-15, but 25 years in order to reduce the monthly payments for the people," the President instructed.
As a result, the availability of housing for millions of Kazakhstanis will increase. This will also work for the growth of the economy, small and medium-sized businesses, he emphasized.
"In order to support working people of Kazakhstan with a relatively low wage, I propose to reduce their tax burden 10 times, that is, to leave only 1% from January 1, 2019. Reducing the tax burden through individual income tax should be made for those who earn not more than 25% size of the minimum calculation factor per month, "the Head of State proponed.
The released funds from such a reduction should be directed to increase the payment for their labor. In this way, wages of at least one third of the country's wage earners, which is more than two million people, will grow without increasing the burden on employers, he suggested.
"In 2018-2019 academic year, additional 20 000 grants must be allocated on top of the annually allocated 54 000. Of these, 11,000, if necessary even more, must be given for bachelors training in technical fields that will be in demand in the new economy under the conditions of the fourth industrial revolution" the President tasked.
In addition, Nazarbayev ordered the construction of dormitories by universities, colleges, development companies on the public-private partnership principle. Through the Ministry of Education and Science, gradual reimbursement of part of the investments in the construction of the hostels will be guaranteed.
"I order to increase microlending to Kazakhstan residents this year by KZT 20 billion, against last year. Thus, the total amount will make 62 billion tenge per year. As a result, the number of loan recipients will double and reach 14 000. This work should be actively continued in the following years. The significance of this initiative is that it will allow thousands of people to open their own business. I would like to emphasize that this is especially important for rural areas, for the development of entrepreneurship in the countryside, "the President said.
"We need to implement the project on building the gas pipeline along the route Karaozek (Kyzyl-Orda region) - Zhezkazgan - Karaganda - Temirtau - Astana, which requires attracting appropriate funds, including from international financial institutions. It will not only provide with gas 2, 7 million people, but also create new productions of small and medium-sized businesses.
Ecology will also improve. In Astana alone, the transfer to gas will reduce harmful emissions into the atmosphere 6 times or 35 000 tons per year. The implementation of this project will enable further gasification of other regions," Nazarbayev emphasized.
The Government and the National Bank are tasked to work out the mechanisms for implementing the five initiatives, while the Parliament was asked for timely changes to the legislation.
Reported by Aynur Samedova for the Kazakhstanskaya Pravda.
