Oil Rules : Kazakhstan's Policy Options in a Downturn

This report assesses the role of fiscal rules for countercyclical economic management in Kazakhstan and simulates the behavior of different types of fiscal rules. The work represents technical assistance to the ministry of economy and budget planni...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: World Bank
Format: General Economy, Macroeconomics and Growth Study
Language:English
en_US
Published: Washington, DC 2014
Subjects:
TAX
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/01/18715166/oil-rules-kazakhstans-policy-options-downturn
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/16721
Description
Summary:This report assesses the role of fiscal rules for countercyclical economic management in Kazakhstan and simulates the behavior of different types of fiscal rules. The work represents technical assistance to the ministry of economy and budget planning and has been financed by the joint economic research program between the government of Kazakhstan and the World Bank. Kazakhstan adopted a fixed fiscal rule in 2010 and introduced changes to it in 2012. By keeping the annual amount transferred from the fund to the budget constant, Kazakhstan's rule is more stringent than pure application of the permanent rule will imply. This report's five chapters outline the advantages of Kazakhstan's current fiscal rule and its performance against other types of rules. Chapter one reviews the performance of the Kazakh economy and the policy stance of the authorities over the last 10 years. Chapter two argues that fiscal rules should be simple and transparent; presenting evidence that Kazakhstan's current fiscal rule meets these two criteria. Chapter three presents the results of simulations of different global economic scenarios and the expected impacts on key variables in Kazakhstan, considering scenarios as elected in close consultation with the Kazakh authorities. Chapter four uses the results of these simulations to test the performance of different types of fiscal rules. Chapter five responds to a government request to review the literature on the use of fiscal and monetary policy for countercyclical economic management.