Samruk-Kazyna decides not to pay dividends from $3.4 billion revenue gained in 2023

According to the website of the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE), in 2023, the state-run Samruk-Kazyna fund reported a consolidated net revenue of 1.698 trillion tenge ($3.4 billion).

From this amount, the fund will allocate $100 million to the Kazakhstan Halkyna charity fund. The remaining undistributed revenue will be retained by the fund and its subsidiaries for «financing investment programs, satisfying payment obligations and acquiring assets.» This means that Samruk-Kazyna has opted not to pay dividends to the government, its sole shareholder, for 2023.

In January, the fund transferred a record-high dividend payment of $478.7 million for 2022. In total, Samruk-Kazyna paid $925.2 million to the government during that period, including $134.7 million for Kazakhstan Halkyna. In April, the fund paid an additional $201 million in dividends to the government from undistributed revenue for 2022.

In 2022, Samruk-Kazyna allocated $607.4 million in dividend payouts ($341.9 million) and other payments. It paid $313.7 million in 2021 and $362 million in 2020, for the same purposes.

In early March, members of the Mazhilis (the lower house of Kazakhstan’s parliament) urged Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov to allocate net revenues from the quasi-public sector directly to the state budget. They estimated that this move could have partially reduced the state deficit by boosting government coffers with an additional $6 billion. However, the prime minister rejected the proposal, explaining that the quasi-public sector already contributes significant amounts to the government through dividends. Transferring all their revenues is deemed unfeasible as the sector also needs to cover other expenses. The only instance when Samruk-Kazyna was required to transfer 100% of its revenue occurred in 2019.