EDB: Central Asian countries actively increase mutual investments for years

According to the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB), the amount of regional accumulated direct investments (FDI) in Central Asia reached $1.1 billion in the first half of 2023, which is 1.8 times higher than in 2016. Kazakhstan’s share has been gradually growing in the Eurasian region (which also includes Tajikistan, Moldova, Turkmenistan, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Belarus and Russia) for the past couple of years. This year it reached 27.2% compared to 26.6% in 2021. The total amount of accumulated mutual FDI in the region reached $48.8 billion over the first six months of 2023.

Analysts from the EDB noted that the total amount of accumulated mutual FDI grew by 5.4% in 2022 and is still growing this year. Among big importers of investment in the region are Uzbekistan (19.8%), Belarus (12.0%), Russia (9.8%) and Azerbaijan (8.7%). In turn, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan reported the biggest outflow of investments.

The share of commodity industries in mutual investments of the Eurasian region also rose from 29% in 2016 to 37% as of this summer. The number of joint projects in industries with high levels of added value has been growing in parallel. For instance, the share of the processing industry in the total amount of FDI grew from 12% in 2016 to 18% now. On the other hand, the share of the financial sector dropped from 10% in 2021 to 8% in 2022–2023 due to the current geopolitical situation.

The EDB has recently improved its outlook for Kazakhstan’s economic growth. According to the bank’s macroeconomic forecast for 2024-2026, Kazakhstan is ranked third within the EEU and Central Asia in terms of economic growth (4.8%) after Armenia (8.3%) and Tajikistan (8.2%). The EDB expects that the economies of Kyrgyzstan, Belarus and Russia will grow this year by 4.6%, 3.9% and 3.1%, respectively.