Reduction of business administrative barriers continues at local levels

Astana, June 11, 2008, Khabar - A government video conference focusing on inflation, lending schemes for small and medium-sized businesses and shared-construction participants has concluded that prices for consumer goods and services have risen by 5% over 5 months but certain goods, including flour, fell in price by around 10% in
Astana due to the executive authorities' response campaign.
The Premier asked the Astana mayor to prompt the resolution of home-building problems and think of the best way of re-commencing construction work at the suspended sites to lay the draft before the government. Lending schemes for small and medium-sized businesses, or, to be more exact, the mayoral inaction to put the law into practice was also high on the agenda.
Gusman Amrin, chairman, Small Entrepreneurship Development Fund:
"The analysis carried out by the fund showed a big tranche of money allocated by the government was worth 48.8 billion tenge, whereas the city administration proposals were ten times smaller. I think the government will keep an eye on these issues and I think an appropriate decision will be made soon".
Karim Massimov, Prime Minister of RK: "I want to ask the heads of the regions and the cities of Almaty and Astana and the Atameken union to create task forces which will look into how to ease administrative procedures for the promotion of small and medium-sized businesses. The tasks should be tackled jointly with the Damu fund". (Khabar Agency)