The president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, has emerged stronger from the parliamentary election held on August 18th, when his party, Nur Otan (Light-Fatherland), won all of the seats in the Majilis (the lower house). The absence of any opposition deputies in the new parliament will undermine the impact of constitutional amendments that were aimed ostensibly at increasing the legislature's authority. Fiscal policy is set to loosen, but the budget deficit will be small and easily financed. Consumer prices are forecast to rise by an average of around 9% in 2008, with inflation decelerating to just over 7% in 2009. Strong domestic demand, particularly in terms of investment, will support annual average real GDP growth in 2008-09 of about 9.2%. High income and services debits will drive the current-account deficit upwards in US dollar terms, but thanks to robust economic growth it will only be 3.3% of GDP in 2009.