Tokayev Calls On More Active Development of the Stock Market in Kazakhstan
President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan believes that it is necessary to speed up the development of the domestic stock market, according to the Interfax news agency.
The president stated that the steady development of the country’s finance industry is crucial for the entire state when there are so many risks and changes around the globe. In turn, the finance sector must support the economic growth of Kazakhstan.
Tokayev also added that the government has always supported the financial institutions during tough times.
«All of the banks are quite sustainable these days. They do possess a huge potential to support the economy with loans. They must assume the role of a driver for our economy rebounding and then make it more diversified,» the president said.
The state leader also called for further development of the domestic stock market including Astana International Financial Centre which is supposed to be a key source of funds for the country’s economy.
«We have to take into account all these challenges linked to that pivot by the international financial institutions toward green technologies and deep digitalization of the financial services. All these issues must be addressed seriously and new, well-balanced solutions are needed. The consistent implementation of these tasks will open a wide range of opportunities which will make our country stronger. All in all, the only task we work on, I mean the government agencies, regulators and financial institutions is to raise the well-being of our people,» the president highlighted.
There are two stock exchanges in Kazakhstan – KASE and AIX. KASE ranks No. 2 among exchanges all over the CIS in terms of the trading volume with securities and No. 5 in terms of capitalization within the Federation of Euro-Asian Stock Exchanges (FEAS). This is a cross-functional trading platform for corporate and government securities, bonds issued by international financial institutions, foreign currencies, repo and swap operations, and derivatives. In October 2021, KASE reported $36.3 billion of trading volumes combined or 2.2% ($813 million) less than September. Astana International Exchange or AIX was established in 2017 within Astana International Finance Center (AIFC). Among AIX shareholders are AIFC, Goldman Sachs, Shanghai Stock Exchange, Silk Road Fund and NASDAQ. The American tech giant provides AIX with an up-to-day trading platform. The exchange work is based on English law to ensure safe and sound conditions for any investments. The mission of AIX is to support the development of the capital market in Kazakhstan through transparent and beneficial conditions of the funding of private and public companies. In October, the trading volume on AIX reached $114 million.
