Aral Sea Aral Sea The Aral Sea () was an endorheic lake (one with no outflow) lying between Kazakhstan (Aktobe and Kyzylorda Regions) in the north and Uzbekistan (Karakalpakstan autonomous region) in the south. The name roughly translates as "Sea of Islands", referring to over 1,100 islands that had dotted its waters; in the Turkic languages "aral" means "island, archipelago". The Aral Sea drainage basin encompasses Uzbekistan and parts of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan and Iran. Formerly the fourth-largest lake in the world with an area of , the Aral Sea has been shrinking since the 1960s after the rivers that
Kazakhstan and the International Monetary Fund result, the Kazakh economy suffered. Kazakhstan responded with the depreciation of the tenge by looking into the non-oil economic sector. For example, aiding car manufacturers because or farmers for having sustained losses due to the imports of cheaper Russian goods. Kazakhstan is also vulnerable to social unrest, particularly in regions like Mangyshlak and Atyrau which depend on oil. Clashes between oil workers in western Kazakhstan and riot police in 2011 left several dead, and the Kazakh government continues to worry about this issue. The IMF has made a positive economic forecast to the Kazakh economy, expecting it's GDP to grow