The share of small and medium-sized businesses in Kazakhstan's GDP is expected to grow to 35 percent within the next two years. This is possible thanks to business development measures, envisaged in the National Entrepreneurship Development Project. The Kazakh government submitted a report on the state of entrepreneurial activity to the country’s President. The document presents key indicators of the development of the sector and measures to address the problems of entrepreneurs. Particularly, as part of the implementation of the new regulatory policy, the Atameken National Chamber of Entrepreneurs together with the country’s government identified over 9,500 requirements that do not correspond to its main conditions. The ‘clean slate regulation’ reform is expected to reduce the burden on business by an average of 30 percent and create an optimal and clear regulatory environment. Besides, in accordance with the instructions of Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, a number of measures were taken to protect entrepreneurs from unwarranted inspections and to prevent illegal involvement of business in criminal proceedings. Thus, the Prosecutor General's Office has already approved a comprehensive plan of joint action to protect business. It is worth noting that almost 1.5 million SMEs are currently operating in Kazakhstan, employing over 3.5 million people. As a result of the state support measures, over 5,000 new enterprises opened in the country last year, while 48,500 projects received support worth 120 billion tenge.
