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ASTANA, March 24 (Reuters) - Kazakhstan's government has cut its 2009 economic growth forecast to 1 percent from 2 percent because it expects lower prices for its oil and metals exports, Economy Minister Bakhyt Sultanov said on Tuesday.
The cut brings the government's view in line with that of the International Monetary Fund, which said there were downside risks to its outlook.
Kazakhstan's gross domestic product -- or the value of all goods and services produced -- grew 3.2 percent last year and expanded at an average rate of about 10 percent in 2000-2007.
"Real GDP growth in 2009 is forecast, according to the baseline scenario, at 1.0 percent," Sultanov told a government meeting. "Due to the global economic slowdown and the reduction in demand we do not expect prices for our key exports, oil and metals, to rise."
Sultanov said inflation was expected at 11 percent this year, up from from 9.5 percent in 2008 due to February's devaluation of the tenge currency by 18 percent against the U.S. dollar. (Reporting by Raushan Nurshayeva; Writing by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Jan Dahinten)