At an extended meeting of the Samruk-Kazyna National Welfare Fund, attendees have been discussing the reduction of personnel in national companies, the construction of affordable housing and the restructuring of BTA Bank. Samruk-Kazyna will control prices for real estate as part of the new programme. This year, it is planned to launch two pilot projects commissioned by the president. Every year, the fund together with the agency on construction affairs will commission 1 million square metres of real estate.

Kuandyk Bishembayev, Deputy Chairman, Samruk-Kazyna Sovereign Welfare Fund JSC
«The prime cost of construction in the regions should not be more that 800 US dollars for square metre and the prime cost of construction in such large cities as Astana and Almaty should not be more than 1000 US dollars per square metre. Accordingly, the margin of the real estate fund will give average people a possibility to purchase these flats.»

Apart from the real estate market, Samruk-Kazyna will favour the development of the financial sector. The head of the fund, Umirzak Shukeyev asked officials of national companies to hold their accounts in BTA bank and place their deposits there.

Other banks the state participation will remain part of the Samruk-Kazyna fund. Currently, officials of the fund are scrutinizing the merging of weak banks to create stronger financial institution, however they haven’t mentioned the names and terms yet. It is known that Samruk-Kazyna is going to withdraw distressed assets, companies which do not bring income or structures whose functions are duplicated. This means that there will be a significant reduction in personnel.

Umirzak Shukeyev, Chairman, Samruk-Kazyna Sovereign Welfare Fund JSC
«It is an issue of analysis, how many people will be dismissed. You should understand that it is necessary to reduce non-effective staff. We are planning to dismiss 25% of the personnel of KazMunaiGas, which is about 150 people.»

Optimization of the quantity and structure of the fund should result in an increase in the effectiveness of its work. In general last year, according to preliminary data, the profit of Samruk-Kazyna equalled 594 billion tenge. The lion’s share of this money falls to the largest national companies.