Kazakhstan has placed 38th in the international ranking of the world's most competitive economies, becoming the only CIS country to make the list. The findings come from a global study published by the IMD World Competitiveness Center, according to infohub.kz.
The annual study by the Swiss-based IMD World Competitiveness Center assesses the economies of 70 countries across four key areas: economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency and infrastructure.
In this year's list, Kazakhstan scored 65.4 points to take 38th place.
The top 10 is led by Singapore (100 points), Hong Kong (95.6), Switzerland (95.3), Taiwan (94.3), the United Arab Emirates (94.1), Denmark (94.1), Ireland (94.1), the Netherlands (90.1), Sweden (88.5) and the United States (86.8).
In the global list, Kazakhstan's scores placed it ahead of a number of countries, including Spain, Portugal, Poland, Italy and Argentina.
In the country's individual profile, the four key areas produced the following results: for government efficiency, Kazakhstan scored 63.0 points to rank 23rd. In business efficiency, the country took 23rd place with 66.5 points.
Its infrastructure score stood at 46.2 points, placing the country 43rd in that area, while in economic performance it ranked 57th with 43.5 points.
The study also presents Kazakhstan's main macroeconomic indicators: gross domestic product (GDP) totaled $306.2 billion, ranking the country 44th on this measure.
GDP per capita at purchasing power parity (PPP) reached $45,286.3, securing 43rd place. The country's real GDP growth was 6.5%, placing it 6th on this indicator.
The population stood at 20.4 million (32nd place), the unemployment rate at 4.6% (31st place), and consumer price inflation at 11.4% (65th place).
Earlier, Kursiv reported that the international agency S&P Global Ratings had upgraded its assessment of Kazakhstan's banking system. Experts noted that Kazakh banks have become more reliable, with oversight that is stricter and more effective than in neighboring countries.