April 2, 2014

PM of Kazakhstan Serik Akhmetov resigns



Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Serik Akhmetov has resigned today. It has been accepted by President Nursultan Nazarbayev. Akhmetov was appointed Prime Minister in September 2012.

FACTS ABOUT KAZAKHSTAN
Location: Central Asia, south of Russia and northwest of China
Comparative Area: Ninth largest in the world, equivalent to the size of Western Europe. Four times the size of Texas. Five times the size of France
Independence: December 16, 1991
National Holiday: Republic Day, October 25 (1991)
Population: 14.9 million
Ethnic Diversity: Kazakh 51.8%, Russian 31.4%, Ukrainian 4.4%, Tatar 1.7%, German 1.6%. There are over 100 other nationalities.
Religions: Muslim 47%, Russian Orthodox 44%, other 9%
Languages: Kazakh, spoken by over 52% of the population, is the state language. Russian, spoken by two-thirds of the population, is used in everyday business and enjoys official status under the Constitution.
Literacy: 98%
Monetary Unit: Tenge (KZT) - equal to 100 tyins. It was introduced on November 15, 1993. Exchange rate is floating, fully convertible and recently has moved in a range of 145 - 155 KZT to the dollar.
Capital: Astana (since December 10,1997).