NUR-SULTAN- Kazakhstan will allow hundreds of thousands of people with sufficient funds in their state pension fund accounts to use part of that money to buy property, invest in securities or pay medical and education bills, the government said on Thursday.
Some 730,000 people out of the fund's 8.1 million active investors will be able to withdraw part of their savings, labour minister Birzhan Nurymbetov told a briefing. He gave no estimate of total potential withdrawals.
The $28.6 billion fund is replenished mostly by mandatory contributions from workers and employers and is the biggest investor on the domestic bond market. About 40% of its assets are invested in the oil-producing former Soviet republic's government debt.
Under the scheme, which will take effect from next year, the fund's customers will be able to withdraw sums exceeding minimum levels set for every age that will be routinely adjusted. At the start, the threshold for 30-year-olds is estimated at 2.5 million tenge ($6,000), Nurymbetov said.
The move aims to make housing more affordable for the Central Asian country's middle class and Kazakhs will be able to use the money not only to buy property but also to repay their mortgages.
(Reporting by Tamara Vaal, Writing by Olzhas Auyezov, Editing by Timothy Heritage) ((olzhas.auyezov@thomsonreuters.com; +7 727 2508 500; Reuters Messaging: olzhas.auyezov.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
