Fewer Kazakhstanis resort to international money transfers: transactions drop by about 33%
Kazakhstan has seen a significant decline in international remittances. In August 2024, Kazakhstanis transferred $166 million through international money transfer systems (IMTS) across 190,000 transactions. According to the National Bank, this marks an 8.5% decrease month-on-month (MoM) and a 29.2% drop year-on-year (YoY).
Most of these transfers (96.7%) were sent abroad, with a smaller portion (3.3%) occurring within Kazakhstan. Popular systems for these transactions include Zolotaya Korona, Western Union and MoneyGram.
Remittances sent abroad from Kazakhstan fell by nearly 25%
Kazakhstanis sent $161 million abroad via 183,400 transactions. The most common destinations for these transfers were Uzbekistan ($62.5 million or 38.8%), Russia ($39.6 million or 24.6%) and Turkey ($27 million or 17.1%). The U.S. dollar remains the most popular foreign exchange for transfers, accounting for 57.1% of the total value and 33.2% of the total transactions. The tenge follows with 34.1% of the total value and 54.5% of the transactions.
Zolotaya Korona handled the largest share of transactions, accounting for 86.4% or $139 million, though this represents a decrease of nearly three percentage points (p.p.) MoM. Western Union’s share increased by 2.1 p.p., reaching 9.2% ($14.8 million), while MoneyGram’s share rose by 0.3 p.p. to 2.1% ($3.3 million).
Russia accounts for a quarter of all remittances sent to Kazakhstan
In August 2024, Kazakhstanis received $41.7 million in remittances from abroad, marking a decrease of 7.6% MoM and 10% YoY. The total number of transactions was 59,500, down 11.2% MoM. The largest remittances came from Russia (25.6% or $10.4 million), the U.S. (14.2% or $5.8 million) and South Korea (10.6% or $4.3 million). As with outbound transfers, U.S. dollars and tenge were the most frequently used currencies. Despite Russia leading in the volume of money sent to Kazakhstan, rubles accounted for only 19.6% of the total foreign exchange and ranked third.
Among international money transfer systems, Zolotaya Korona was the most popular for inbound transfers to Kazakhstan, handling 51.7% of all such transactions. However, its share fell by 3.7 p.p. MoM. Meanwhile, Western Union’s share increased by 2.6 p.p. to 30.3% and MoneyGram’s share rose by 0.9 p.p. to 16.4%.
Non-cash transactions on the rise in Kazakhstan
In August 2024, the number of payment card transactions in Kazakhstan reached 1.2 billion, with a total value of $37 billion. Non-cash transactions accounted for $32 billion or 87% of the total, representing a nearly 20% increase YoY. The majority of these non-cash transactions were made via internet/mobile banking (80.3% of the total number and 90.3% of the total value) and POS terminals (19.6% and 9.4%, respectively).
Although the number of cash withdrawals has declined, the total amount of money withdrawn has been increasing. In August 2024, cardholders made 20.7 million withdrawals totaling $4.7 billion. Compared to August 2023, the number of withdrawals decreased by 2%, but their value increased by 10.6%.
As of Sept. 1, there were 79 million payment cards in circulation in Kazakhstan. The most common are debit cards, making up 80% of the total, followed by credit cards at 15.8% and debit cards with credit limits and prepaid cards at 4.2%. Cards from international payment systems such as VISA, MasterCard, UnionPay, American Express and Diners Club are issued by 18 banks and Qazpost. Additionally, some local banks, including Citibank Kazakhstan and Kaspi Bank, issue their own cards.
