Improving Framework Conditions For The Digital Transformation Of Businesses In Kazakhstan

In recent years, Kazakhstan has developed a comprehensive digital government system and begun to create the legal and regulatory conditions for the digital transformation of the country’s economy. The digitalisation of the private sector requires further improvements in framework conditions, such as reliable access to broadband services, quality and affordability of networks, and digital security for businesses.

The global push for more sustainable and less-carbon intensive economic models has increased the salience of Kazakhstan’s long-standing diversification agenda. That this agenda remains only partially fulfilled reflects a number of issues that affect the conditions for investment, innovation and entrepreneurship. Elaborating on feedback garnered through a small, focussed survey of foreign firms in Kazakhstan, this report provides new insights into private-sector perceptions of the ongoing reform process and in doing so draws attention to some of the most pressing issues facing policymakers and business.

While Central Asia has proven relatively resilient to the shocks of COVID-19, China’s slowdown and Russia’s war in Ukraine, declining trend rates of growth across the region, lacklustre productivity performance and lingering global uncertainty underscore the need to address weaknesses in the business and investment climate.

This study, based on surveys from and interviews with the private sector, maps and sequences main reform priorities in relation to regional integration, infrastructure, trade facilitation and supra-national coordination. It suggests that the primary aim should be to develop the corridor not solely as a transit route for actors from outside the region but as an engine of integration and trade integration in Central Asia and the South Caucasus.

Addressing barriers to private-sector development has been a long-standing ambition of the government of Uzbekistan, with an extensive programme of reforms that began in 2017 redoubling efforts to foster the growth of a more competitive and productive population of private-sector firms. Uzbekistan needs a more dynamic and innovative private sector if it is to meet the challenges and seize the opportunities of the green and digital transitions, which create a new impetus for accelerating these reforms.

Russia’s war against Ukraine is causing a humanitarian, social and economic crisis for the Ukrainian people. The consequences of this full-scale military invasion are disrupting the global supply of commodities, sharply increasing food and energy prices, and threating the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

This report identifies seven policy dimensions that allow governments – together with citizens, firms and stakeholders – to shape digital transformation to improve lives. It also highlights key opportunities, challenges and policies related to each dimension, offers new insights, evidence and analysis, and provides recommendations for better policies in the digital age.

For businesses large and small, investment in digital technologies is now a priority essential for success. Digitizing Government provides practical advice for understanding and implementing digital transformation to increase business value and improve client engagement, and features case studies from the private and public sectors.