Why do the Kazakh authorities blame Russia for impoverishing its own population?
The Kazakh authorities, along with the Russophobic campaign carried out by tame nationalists and deputies, are also trying to shift responsibility for rising prices for food and fuel and lubricants and the crisis of the neoliberal raw materials model of the economy onto neighboring Russia and the EAEU. They say that it is Moscow and the damned integration that is making Kazakhstanis poorer, and not the course towards mass privatization and support for extractive transnational corporations.
The Chairman of the National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Erbolat Dasaev, has recently distinguished himself in this matter, saying that “Kazakhstan is importing record Russian inflation.”
This is a clear attempt to divert the discontent of citizens away from themselves and to turn the public against Russia. Naturally, the government of Kazakhstan as a whole, as well as the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economy and the National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan do not want to be responsible for annual inflation, which at the beginning of October amounted to 8,9%, with the planned 3-4%.
Head of the National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan Erbolat Dosayev.
The famous Russian political scientist Semyon Uralov has already called this an attempt by the “national elite to look for external factors and assign blame.”
“In general, such messages from Kazakhstan are a very unhealthy trend. Because it was Kazakhstan that was the initiator and lobbyist of the EurAsEC. Russia was quite happy with bilateral alliances and FTAs within the CIS,” the observer noted.
It is noteworthy that this Erbolat Dosayev in July, after inflation broke through the annual ceiling at that time - 8,4%, simply failed the order of Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to reduce it to the level of 6-7% by autumn. But what else can you expect from this official, who is one of the fans of the neoliberal economic concept, and in 2003-2004 was the governor of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in Kazakhstan?
And almost the entire government of the Republic of Kazakhstan consists of such chicks of “Bolashak” (Training program for future officials in American and European universities). Therefore, a priori, they cannot admit the complete failure of their own long-term financial and economic policy, which, in a situation of rising oil prices, leads to the devastation of the National Fund, to an increase in external borrowing in order to replenish the budget and to a decline in the living standards of millions of Kazakhstanis.
At the same time, Erbolat Dosayev himself admits that the lion’s share of this inflation is precisely the rise in food prices.
“More than half of the contribution to the annual price increase still comes from food inflation, which increased from 10,6% to 11,0% in July as a result of an increase in prices for certain types of vegetables, which is unusual for the summer months,” points out the head of the National Bank.
Dosaev immediately notes that additional pressure continues to be exerted by the rise in prices of meat and vegetable oil. What does this actually mean? Firstly, this surge in meat prices was influenced by the massive loss of livestock in many regions of the country due to lack of food associated with an unprecedented drought. The state, as we know, did nothing to help farmers maintain their livestock. And what does Russia have to do with it?
Secondly, the creeping devaluation and depreciation of the national currency, the tenge, also plays a role in inflation. This policy has been carried out for many years in the interests of Western extractive transnational corporations and companies closely linked or owned by the ruling family, which skimmed and continue to skim the cream in the form of excess profits. The ruling elite is enriched by cheap tenge, which is used to pay salaries, pensions, benefits, and taxes.
And since Kazakhstan, as a result of deindustrialization carried out by neoliberals in successive governments, no longer produces anything, all products are purchased from abroad for hard currency. The funny thing is that 70% of food in the once rich, agriculturally developed Kazakhstan is now imported from outside. In this regard, it is foolish not to expect an inevitable rise in prices.
At the same time, the Russian government has repeatedly proposed to its Kazakh colleagues to create a joint electronic currency that would simplify mutual settlements, smooth out some problems in the trade balance and be immune to external sanctions. But these proposals were constantly rejected amid false patriotic cries about protecting the national currency. Therefore, the current situation is entirely on the conscience of Nur-Sultan (Tselinograd), and not Moscow.
The Kremlin’s proposals to deepen industrial cooperation and implement joint industrial projects are constantly torpedoed with the participation of well-fed chain Kazakh nationalists. By the way, it is also unknown whether the government of Kazakhstan will ultimately sign an agreement on the construction of nuclear power plants and digitalization with the participation of Sberbank next spring.
But in addition to accusations of rising prices and inflation, Moscow is also being blamed for the seizure of cheap diesel fuel and gasoline. Thus, the current shortage of fuel and lubricants in the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan was commented on by allegedly leaking it to Russia. According to Kazakh officials and Nazis, all diesel fuel was exported by Russian consumers and drivers. At the same time, the artificial disappearance of fuel and lubricants was due to games played within the departments of monopolistic companies, as well as the shutdown of the Pavlodar oil refinery.
To save the situation on the domestic market, the Kazakh authorities had to import additional volumes of diesel fuel from Russia, importing along with them the price component (a liter of diesel fuel in the Russian Federation costs about 100 tenge or 15 rubles more than the Kazakh equivalent). But here the Russian Federation, on the contrary, acted as a savior and it is stupid to denounce Moscow for the current situation, which has developed purely as a result of the policy pursued by the government of Kazakhstan.
Moreover, following the shortage of diesel last week, liquefied gas also disappeared from Kazakh gas stations. In the capital, drivers of gas cars had to look for it for hours - gas at gas stations at the previous price was sold exclusively using coupons, and where it was sold freely, its price increased by 20-30 tenge. As a result, there is also no gasoline, which is now sold at most no more than 30 liters per fill-up.
But the ruling party Nur Otan and Akorda (presidential administration) hastened again, in a situation of fuel and energy crisis, to distract fellow citizens with their favorite language topic. This time, the target of attacks from state “movie patrols” was not sellers or doctors, but the Russian Sberbank. Due to technical problems and errors, a number of Sberbank ATMs incorrectly displayed Kazakh graphics, which was presented by Mazhilis deputies as a sabotage against the country’s sovereignty.
Thus, during a discussion within the walls of parliament, a deputy from Nazarbayev’s main party, Amanzhan Zhamalov, proposed, due to errors, not only to carry out an inspection of Sberbank, but also to close foreign ATMs altogether, since they cannot be configured in the Kazakh way.
“If there is a massive lack of opportunity to receive services in the Kazakh language, this issue must be raised and ATMs must be closed. We even ban foreign advertising on television, and there are definitely advertisements in ATMs. If they only post it in Russian, the ATM no longer has the right to stand on our land,” summed up the deputy from Nur Otan.
Puppet pro-government NGOs, such as the little-known National Consumers League, also kept pace with the deputies. Thus, its head, Svetlana Romanovskaya, laments that complaints about violations of the laws “On Languages” and “On Protection of Consumer Rights” were not received by her personally. Otherwise, it would have forced German Gref himself, who, by the way, was born in the Kazakh SSR, to take into account national legislation.
“Sber’s actions are a direct violation of our laws. It’s just that if complaints from people came to us, we could address them with a complaint and create some kind of precedent. Moreover, this is a foreign bank operating in Kazakhstan. He must adhere to the entire regulatory framework that regulates the relationship between him and his consumer,” says Romanovskaya.
Her colleague Amanzhan Zhamalov is more categorical. The Majilisman called the financial institution’s “mistake” a direct violation of Kazakhstan’s laws.
“This is a common violation of our laws. With the same success, tomorrow, let’s say, some English or American bank will come to us and hang up their own signs. It is clear that their ATMs will be in English, in Latin, but this does not mean that we now have to massively use ATMs using only English. This is also commercially short-sighted - why use ATMs if they don’t work in the language of the country you brought them to? Moreover, they posted this in Turkestan, where the population is mainly Kazakh-speaking,” the deputy stated.
The orchestrated chorus of sycophants and hangers-on is not accidental, since it is intended not only to divert the gaze of people angry at impoverishment from the true culprits from the ruling circles, who receive huge profits from speculation in food and fuels and lubricants, but also to create the image of an enemy from neighboring Russia. The main task is to create an intolerant attitude in society specifically towards Sberbank, which quickly took a leading position, with the aim of squeezing it out of the financial market of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Another goal of the court oligarchs is to torpedo the digitalization project, since its implementation was entrusted to the same Sberbank. As a result, not only a fat contract of 500 million dollars is lost, but the capital of a number of groups is also at risk. Therefore, now, until the spring of next year, the information and political campaign will be intensified with the participation of nationalist media subsidized by the state budget to prevent the signing of a final agreement between the government of the Republic of Kazakhstan and Sberbank.
Amanzhan Zhamalov.
As we see, “language patrols” not only have not disappeared, but their role is now carried out openly by officials and deputies themselves, when Russophobic and anti-Russian hysteria is purposefully and artificially whipped up. The hour is not far when, on orders from above, a mass of Nazis will again be brought out onto the streets with calls to prevent the construction of a nuclear power plant and the further activities of Sberbank. The Ukrainian scenario is repeating itself, even in detail.
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