Kazakhstan's to overhaul its $84 billion national wealth fund after criticism ...
21.05.12
ALMATY, Kazakhstan
- Kazakhstan's $84 billion sovereign wealth fund has been hamstrung by a lack of strategic vision, excessive bureaucracy and overstaffing, its recently appointed chairman said in an interview published Thursday in Russian business daily Kommersant.
Umirzak Shukeyev's criticisms come as a pointed attack on the fund's management under his influential billionaire predecessor Timur Kulibayev, who is the son-in-law of the energy-rich Central Asian nation's president.
Kulibayev was abruptly fired as fund chairman by President Nursultan Nazarbayev in December after deadly riots broke out in the western town of Zhanaozen, where striking oil workers had been protesting for months over salary terms.
Shukeyev said a new law regulating the running of the fund will lead to an increase in the proportion of independent board members to 40 percent, up from 33 percent currently.
Shukeyev and fund managing director Peter House have in recent days spoken for an urgent need to form a clear strategy for the fund.
Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune