UPDATE 2-Kazkommertsbank 2007 profit more than doubles

(Adds 2008 outlook, bank executives' quotes)

ALMATY, March 19 (Reuters) - Kazkommertsbank (KKGByq.L) KKGB.KZ, Kazakhstan's biggest bank, said on Wednesday its net profit more than doubled to 57.8 billion tenge ($478 million) in 2007 largely due to higher interest income.

It gave a more modest outlook for 2008 as the effect of the global liquidity crunch, which hit Kazakhstan's financial system hard in mid-2007, continued to haunt local banks.

"We conservatively project our net profit growth in 2008 to be at around 20 percent," Maral Amrina, Director of Financial Institutions, told a conference call.

Kazkommertsbank's assets more than doubled in 2006, but last year growth slowed to 22.7 percent.

"In 2008 we do not project any growth in (our) loan book or assets," Amrina said.

The loan book might even shrink as money from maturing loans will be used to repay external debt, bank executives said. Last year's liquidity crunch has limited Kazakh banks' access to international debt markets.

Kazkommerts plans to maintain its net interest margin at or above the 2007 level of 6.2 percent compared to 5.1 percent in 2006, its managers said.

To achieve this, the bank has increased the margin by raising the rate on its new and existing corporate loans as well as new retail loans by an average of 2 percentage points.

Analysts and rating agencies have expressed concerns about Kazakh banks' asset quality following a slump in the construction industry caused by a shortage of cash.

But Kazkommerts executives said the government, which has earmarked $4 billion to support the economy, was doing enough to prevent a serious crisis.

"Our expectation is that with the support of the government all major (construction) projects will be completed," Managing Director Adil Batyrbekov told the same conference call. (Writing by Olzhas Auyezov; editing by Rory Channing)