Debt - external: $11.6 billion (2001 est.)
Economic aid - recipient: $610 million in US assistance programs, 1992-2000
Currency: tenge (KZT)
Currency code: KZT
Exchange rates: tenge per US dollar - 151.14 (January 2002), 146.74 (2001), 142.13 (2000), 119.52 (1999), 78.30 (1998), 75.44 (1997)
Fiscal year: calendar year
Communications Kazakhstan
Telephones - main lines in use: 1.92 million (2001)
Telephones - mobile cellular: 400,000 (2001)
Telephone system: service is poor; equipment antiquated domestic: are available in most of Kazakhstan international: international traffic with other former Soviet republics and China carried by landline and microwave radio relay; with other countries by satellite and by the Trans-Asia-Europe (TAE) fiber-optic cable; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat