Kazakhstan and the World Bank

[2] Upon leaving the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan showed impressive growth due to its government's willingness to accept market liberalization and widespread banking reforms.

Spearheaded by its booming oil industry, Kazakhstan was able to produce 60% of the GDP of Central Asia while it experienced an average of 10% growth rates from 1996 through 2006.

[3] The rapid growth in the economy meant that the World Bank's efforts in Kazakhstan have been primarily focused on the country's dire environmental issues.

Specifically, early World Bank efforts targeted replenishing the Aral Sea which had been reduced to nearly 10% of its original size since Soviet irrigation projects had begun in the area in the 1960s.

World Bank investments in infrastructure in Kazakhstan were primarily loans given to supplement ongoing projects such as the construction of an electricity grid and thousands of Kilometers of planned roads.