Kazakhs Adopt Crisis Plan to Tackle Oil Price Fall

摘要

In his biggest test since being elected president of Kazakhstan a year ago, Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev is set to adopt emergency measures designed to cope with the effects of a pro- longed period of low oil prices. At a meeting of his cabinet on Mar. 9, when the price of oil dropped more than 20% following the collapse of the Opec-plus agreement, Tokayev insisted that all social payments would continue to be made and that people would not lose their jobs. But he said there would have to be some cuts to the budget and instructed Prime Minister Askar Mamin to set up a working group to decide what reductions would need to be made.