Members of the Lower House of the Kazakh Parliament criticized the program to increase the population’s income until 2025. In their parliamentary inquiry, they called on the members of the government to start developing a new strategy to improve the well-being of Kazakh citizens. In their opinion, it should, first of all, eliminate the duplication of other documents, as well as have a serious scientific justification involving leading scientists in the field of economics, labor relations and other areas. Thirdly, the document should be widely discussed, the Mazhilis members noted. Behind-the-scenes decision-making in this matter is unacceptable. According to MP Aikyn Konurov, the program should distinguish between what level of income is acceptable for Kazakh residents and the one that should be sought, as well as to identify clear criteria for the country's middle class.
“In fact, we have received a reference document, which is compiled from various policy documents in the field of business support, employment, development of various industries and regions. There is no real analysis of the income of the population by sectors and industries, the reasons for low wages, business incomes, and the real distribution of profits between employees and owners. The program does not include the main thing, namely a mechanism to realign the economy to high-performance sectors with high wages. As a result, in the end we will have all the Program’s activities completed by 2025 with government agencies successfully reporting on this, while the real disposable incomes of the population will grow only marginally,” opined Aikyn Konurov, a member of Mazhilis, Lower House of Kazakh Parliament.
Translation by Assem Zhanmukhanova
Editing by Galiya Khassenkhanova
