Kazakhstan's new parliament re-installed a close ally of President Nursultan Nazarbayev as prime minister on Friday, demonstrating its loyal backing for the veteran leader after an election criticised by the West as falling short of democracy. Karim Masimov will embark on a sixth year as prime minister after 92 deputies in the lower house voted to retain the government that runs Central Asia's largest economy. Five in the 107-seat chamber voted against and eight abstained.
Masimov, 46, is the longest serving Kazakh prime minister to date, having held the job since January 2007. A Nazarbayev loyalist fluent in several languages, he identified a looming global economic crisis as the main challenge for his government. "The number one issue is macroeconomic stability," Masimov told Reuters in his first interview after being re-appointed. "No country in the world is immune to the upcoming crisis. We should be responsive to this issue." Masimov was key to Nazarbayev's team that helped Kazakhstan avoid the worst ravages of the previous global financial crisis that stalled growth in Russia and other former Soviet republics.
Addressing parliament, Nazarbayev said Kazakhstan's economy, which grew by 7.5 percent last year, could suffer in 2012 from a possible decline in the price of oil and other minerals from which the country derives the bulk of its revenues. Masimov forecast oil prices would peak in April or May, before declining in the second half of the year. He forecast GDP growth of between 6 percent and 7 percent in 2012 and said job creation would be among the top priorities for his government.
"Kazakhstan has reached a level of GDP per capita of above $11,000. If you look at the history of different countries, we are entering the middle-income trap," he said. The ruling Nur Otan party won 81 percent of a January 15 vote that admitted three parties to the chamber for the first time since independence from the Soviet Union two decades ago.
Both other parliamentary groups are broadly sympathetic to Nur Otan and Western election monitors criticised the vote for excluding genuine opposition parties. Masimov said more political reforms were needed in Kazakhstan, the second-largest ex-Soviet oil producer after Russia and home to 16.7 million people. These included encouraging civil society and reforming the justice system.
The stability prized by Nazarbayev, instrumental to attracting more than $120 billion in foreign investment since independence, was shaken by deadly clashes in the western oil region of Mangistau that followed a seven-month labour dispute. Officials say 17 were killed as a result of clashes between police and protesters in Zhanaozen and a nearby village.