Kazakh president criticises digital economy, orders review of its role in GDP calculation

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has instructed the government to prepare proposals for assessing the impact of the digital economy on the country’s GDP, arguing that current methodologies are fragmented and do not provide a clear picture of real economic growth.

Tokayev said the transition to a new technological order based on artificial intelligence requires an objective reassessment of the current situation, Caliber.Az reports, citing Kazinform.

According to Tokayev, the concept of “digital economy” still has not received a final definition, and the existing methodology remains fragmented.

“When we are told that the target GDP growth rate of five per cent has been achieved, it is necessary to clearly distinguish to what extent this was ensured by the real sector of the economy and to what extent it was the result of the introduction of innovations,” he noted.

Tokayev made it clear that the lack of serious achievements is masked by aggregate indicators, which creates an illusion of efficiency and does not allow an objective assessment of the real contribution of digitalisation and artificial intelligence to economic growth.

He instructed the government, together with the Agency for Strategic Planning and Reforms, to submit proposals on evaluating the impact of the digital economy on GDP.

Tokayev also noted that recent data from leading global laboratories indicate a rapidly widening gap between developed and developing economies.

He stressed that, according to the World Bank, the digital economy already accounts for more than 15% of global GDP, reflecting a fundamental shift in which competition is moving from goods markets to data and standards.

“This transformation has so far only partially affected our country,” he said.

Tokayev highlighted several major national projects involving artificial intelligence, including the launch of the unified customs clearance platform KEDEN, which reduces declaration processing time to under a minute, with most documents handled automatically.

He also pointed to the development of the Smart Cargo logistics platform, integrated tax administration systems, and the Smart Data Finance platform, which aggregates analytics from multiple sources.

He added that these systems aim to improve efficiency, enhance monitoring, and reduce financial risks, while a new predictive procurement model based on the National Product Catalogue is expected to generate significant budget savings annually.

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov