NCE RK "Atameken" released the results of the sociological survey "Business Climate" for 2016

 A briefing was held at the Service of Central Communications on the topic: "The results of the sociological survey" Business Climate" for 2016, prepared by the Institute of Economic Research (IER) with the participation of the experts of the Research group" Sange " at the request of NCE "Atameken". During the briefing, Deputy Chairman of the Board of NCE "Atameken" Rustam Zhursunov expressed his hope that the Business Climate 2016 study will become the basis for the development of entrepreneurship and improvement of the business climate in Kazakhstan. "The sociological research was carried out at the request of the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs of the Republic of Kazakhstan "Atameken" by the Institute of Economic Research under the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The peculiarity of the research is the preparation of the rating of regions on favorable conditions for doing business and the rating of the effectiveness of the activity of state bodies. In 2016, 4100 entrepreneurs-respondents took part in the survey, which is 2 times more than in 2015", - noted Rustam Zhursunov. We note that the methodology of the independent rating "Business Climate", which is based on the experience of business barometers, such companies as The World Bank, Bank of America, British Government, Financial Times and The Economist, Ernst & Young, Opora Rossii, was used for research. According to Aizhan Tulepbekova, director of the Center for Industrial Analysis of the Institute for Economic Research of the Institute of Economic Research of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the study was aimed at studying the state of the business climate in Kazakhstan, identifying areas with a favorable and less favorable climate for business development, and identifying problems in this area. "We took into account such indicators as: administrative regulation, state support of business, real estate and infrastructure, human resources, financial resources, as well as the level of corruption and shadow economy",-  she noted. According to Rustam Zhursunov, the results showed that the most favorable conditions for the development of entrepreneurship were created in the city of Almaty. "Compared to 2015, the southern capital rose by 2 points, displacing Astana to the second place. It is also worth noting South Kazakhstan region, which, according to the rating, is on the third position, improving the results compared to 2015 by 3 positions. Among the regions that close the rating are North-Kazakhstan, Kostanay and Kyzylorda regions”, -he added. As for the level of corruption, as the main factor affecting the formation of the business climate, the most corrupt respondents included customs authorities, the Economic Investigation Service and the Transport Inspectorate. Zhambyl, Kostanay and West Kazakhstan regions have the greatest potential to improve the level of corruption in the region. The effectiveness of anti-corruption programs, which entrepreneurs rated highly enough, was estimated at 71%. To reduce the level of corruption, entrepreneurs are offered toughening penalties for corruption, full automation of public services, strengthening control over the actions of government officials, their incomes, and the incomes of their family members. In the course of the study, the work of state bodies was assessed. In terms of informing entrepreneurs about the instruments of state support, which grew by more than 1.5 times in comparison with 2015, the share of participants in the "RMB-2020" grew by 4.8%. The main problems hampering the effective work of state bodies are long periods of consideration of documents and bureaucracy, this was noted by 29.53% of respondents. In addition, 14.75% of respondents reported incompetence of state employees. "Problems, which constrain the development of lending and making financing inaccessible tools, are: high inflation; high rate of refinancing rate of the National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan; a small share of small business in the structure of GDP (in 2015, 25.6%), a high level of monopolization of the economy; unattractiveness of small business for investment, the presence of barriers for entry into the market and the high risk of bankruptcy of a new enterprise; high level of interest on loans; collateral: most small business owners do not own liquid assets; absence of long-term crediting of small business ", - noted Aizhan Tulepbekova. Also, businessmen voiced the question of high tariffs, while more than 64% of respondents complained on electricity tariff. The presentation of the sociological survey "Business Climate" for 2016 can be found here.