Customs duties decreased in Kazakhstan
By Vusala Abbasova
The long-awaited entry of Kazakhstan to the World Trade Organization (WTO) promises new perspectives for the national economy of the country.
Kazakhstan will reduce customs duties on the import of foreign cars under WTO guidelines, said Zhanel Kushukova, the Director of Department for External Trade Activities, at a Central Communications Service (CCS) briefing on August 5.
However, it is not clear, how a cut in customs duties will impact the cost of cars in the local market, said Kushukova.
"We agreed on duties at 20-15 percent of the customs cost. We realize that this level is not enough for local producers to date. However, we succeeded in reforming the technical regulation system and standards for the recent years," she said.
She also mentioned that the older cars and vehicles that do not meet technical regulations can't be imported to Kazakhstan in the framework of the Eurasian Union.
"We will also take a package of measures to protect our producers, developing the tax preferences and other restrictive measures to prevent the import of old cars," she added.
The auto industry has arisen relatively recently in Kazakhstan, the director of the department noted.
A significant development in the production of passenger cars in the country began in 2010, when the single customs tariff was formed.
Customs duties on imported cars within the single customs tariff were levied at 30 percent or more.
The need for a national auto industry appeared when the EU countries, the U.S., and Japan began dumping older cars in third world countries.
Furthermore, she noted that after country's final accession as a full-fledged member of the WTO, Kazakhstan would be able to expand the list of goods subject to export duties.
Currently, Kazakhstan applies export duties for a small list of goods, such as animal furs, bar of ferrous and non-ferrous metals, as well as oil and oil products, according to Kushukova.
“These duties play a regulator role. They provide the internal market with resources needed for our producers. Duties for oil and oil products are applied to fulfill the budget,” she clarified.
“Taking into account the situation in the world and fall in oil process, Kazakhstan applies lower export duties for oil. In case of oil growth, we always have the opportunity to increase it in order to fulfill our budget,” she said.
After a 19-year-long accession process, Kazakhstan became the 162nd member of the WTO in June.
The significance of this move is that 90 percent of country's trade accounts is with WTO member countries.
WTO membership opens up new horizons for Kazakhstan’s economy and provides national enterprises with access to foreign markets and customers for a wide range of goods and services.
Kazakhstan, the largest economy in the Central Asian region, first submitted its application for WTO membership in 1996. The country previously attempted to conclude its WTO negotiations in 2013, but accession talks failed.
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