MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Kazakhstan Increasing Funding for Microloans by $31m, Capping Mortgage Interest Rates at 7%

President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan reportedly has announced that his government will increase its funding of “soft loans for small businesses” from USD 31 million to USD 62 million while offering unspecified “special incentives for rural entrepreneurs.”

Mr Nazarbayev also said that the government will lower the cap on mortgage interest rates to 7 percent per year from approximately 16 percent. Meanwhile, it will extend the maximum mortgage term from 20 years to 25 years.

In addition, the number of scholarships for higher education will rise from 54,000 to 74,000, and income taxes will drop from 10 percent to 1 percent for the 2 million people in the country earning less than USD 187 per month.

The seven microfinance institutions reporting data to the US-based Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX) report an aggregate gross loan portfolio of USD 202 million outstanding to 221,000 borrowers.

Sources and Additional Resources

Latin American Herald Tribune article
http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=2452076&CategoryId=12396

MIX data on Kazakhstan
https://www.themix.org/mixmarket/countries-regions/kazakhstan

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