Kazakhstan still on track to sell stakes in SOEs from 2018

Singapore

KAZAKHSTAN'S plan to sell off stakes in core state-owned enterprises (SOEs) from 2018 remains in place on expectations of an oil price recovery, said an official from its sovereign wealth fund on Tuesday.

"We haven't gone into the valuation of the companies at the moment. At the moment, we are enhancing value, like putting everyone on (enterprise software) SAP," said Baljeet Kaur Grewal, managing director of strategy and portfolio investments at Kazakh sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna. By 2018, she said, prices of oil will have recovered and oil-rich Kazakhstan's tenge, which has depreciated 45 per cent against the US dollar in the past year, will have a "buoyant" outlook.