Kazakhstan to simplify labyrinthine customs rules

By Raushan Nurshayeva

ASTANA, May 6 (Reuters) - Kazakhstan plans to simplify export and import regulations which the World Bank has labelled as the world's most complicated, the government said on Tuesday.

Central Asia's biggest economy and oil producer ranked 178th out of 178 countries surveyed by the World Bank in its 2008 "Doing Business" report in terms of time and money required to arrange standard import and export deals.

Bowing to pressure to liberalise the sector, Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Masimov appealed for urgent reform at a government meeting on Tuesday.

"Prepare and present by next Tuesday a set of proposals to amend legislation in order to simplify customs procedures," Masimov told Finance Minister Bolat Zhamishev.

According to the World Bank, exporting a standardised cargo of goods requires 12 documents, takes 89 days and costs $2,730 to arrange. An import procedure involves 14 documents, costs $2,780 and takes 76 days.

Trading problems sprang to the top of the government's agenda last year after Kazakhstan took a hit from the global credit squeeze.

As a result, gross domestic product growth is expected to slow to five percent this year from an annual average of 10 percent recorded since 2000.

Kazakhstan, a nation the size of western Europe, inherited a complex industrial infrastructure left over from its Soviet past. It exported $48 billion worth of products in 2007, two thirds of that being energy products.

In an effort to diversify the economy, the government plans to reduce red tape, increase the share of value-added processed goods in exports, and cut taxes for small and medium-sized businesses. (Reporting by Raushan Nurshayeva; Writing by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Gerrard Raven)