Albania has appointed a new «minister» to oversee public procurement. Unlike any predecessor, this official resists bribery, intimidation or favoritism because Diella, an artificial intelligence–powered bot, fills the role, The News Daily reported. Prime Minister Edi Rama, preparing to enter his fourth term, announced on Thursday that Diella — whose…
Oracle is on the verge of joining the trillion-dollar club as its stock surges, driven by soaring demand for cloud computing to support AI systems. The company’s market value is now $933 billion, after shares jumped 36% on Wednesday and continued to rise on Thursday, according to Reuters. The rally…
Europe’s carmakers face pressure from all sides: shrinking sales, rising energy costs and fierce international rivals. Mercedes-Benz boss Ole Källenius, who heads the European car industry association ACEA, warns that the EU’s green agenda risks undermining the auto industry unless it adopts a more pragmatic approach to reaching zero emissions.…
A clinical trial in the U.K. is evaluating a new blood test that could reshape how Alzheimer’s disease is diagnosed, according to The National. Participants showing early signs of dementia are being recruited through NHS memory clinics to evaluate the test’s effectiveness. Researchers expect to have conclusive results within the…
Gold surged to another record high on Wednesday, breaking through $3,500 an ounce as traders increasingly bet on the Fed cutting rates and worried about growing political and trade tensions, according to Reuters. The precious metal reached $3,546.99 before settling at $3,534.88. Furthermore, U.S. gold futures for December delivery climbed…
Anthropic, an artificial intelligence (AI) safety and research company founded by former OpenAI research executives including CEO Dario Amodei, reported closing a $13 billion funding round on Sept. 2, according to CNBC. The company’s valuation rose to $183 billion, marking nearly a threefold increase since its previous raise in March…
Fall traditionally revives financial markets: the companies publish financial reports, investors revise their portfolios and stock prices gain fresh momentum. Analysts at Freedom Broker have highlighted key investment ideas for Kazakhstan and global markets. Kazakhstan’s market One of the fall’s wild cards is the Kazakhstan Electricity Grid Operating Company…
In the first six months of 2025, Lotte Rakhat Confectionery reported a profit of about $3.9 million, down 53.4%, or $4.4 million, from the same period last year, according to the company’s filing on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE) website. The drop was largely due to a 23.4% fall in…
Investment management company Fonte Capital has announced the listing of the Fonte Bitcoin Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) on the Astana International Exchange (AIX), according to a statement on the company’s website. An ETF is an exchange-traded investment fund that is traded in a way similar to ordinary shares. Typically, it…
Mobile rates for Altel and Tele2 customers in Kazakhstan are off-limits to government scrutiny until the end of 2026, following a court decision tied to an international agreement with Qatar. Mobile Telecom-Service (MTS), which owns the Altel and Tele2 brands, won its case in the Almaty Court of Appeal, which…
Kazakh investors can now buy shares in major American companies such as Amazon and Google for as little as $1, thanks to a new feature rolled out in the Tabys app by the Astana International Exchange (AIX), according to the Kazakhstan Association of Minority Shareholders (QAMS). The Tabys app, in…
Kazakhstan’s most influential business figures have come together to form the Kazakhstan Investors Union (KIU), a new organization dedicated to promoting economic development and enhancing the investment climate. The companies of prominent tycoons Timur Kulibayev, Vladimir Kim and Oleg Novachuk were among the latest to join the recently established group.…
Kazakhstan’s National Bank has launched a «regulatory sandbox» for digital assets, a controlled environment allowing companies to test new services using blockchain-based technologies, according to the regulator’s press office. The first round of pilot projects has been launched in four key areas: Real estate tokenization Digital tokens will be issued…
Halyk Finance has expressed concern over the growing role of the government as a source of long-term investment in infrastructure and the capacity of Kazakhstani enterprises. The share of budget funding in the structure of capital investment reached 21.9% in the first half of the year. Over the first six…
Retail investors in Kazakhstan will now pay taxes based on the netting principle. All transactions starting from Jan.1, 2025, will be taken into account on a cumulative basis — with the possibility of deducting losses from profits. These changes to the Tax Code were signed into law by President Kassym-Jomart…
A young population and a growing appetite for new experiences make Kazakhstan an increasingly attractive destination for international brands. However, launching a sustainable business in the country requires more than introducing a well-known name — it demands long-term investment in local capacity, infrastructure and market-specific adaptation. Fast food landscape Kazakhstan’s…
More than 720 Russian companies exited Kazakhstan in the second quarter of 2025, the steepest quarterly decline on record, according to data from the Bureau of National Statistics, highlighted by the First Credit Bureau. Between April and July, the number of companies in Kazakhstan with Russian founders fell by 728…
Eurasia Mining PLC, headquartered in London, has officially launched share trading on the Astana International Exchange (AIX). Securities have become available to investors in Kazakhstan through the cross-listing, without a follow-up offering, AIX emphasized. The mining company was founded in 1995, and its securities have been listed on the London…
Kazakhstan will build its first nuclear power plant (NPP), with a capacity of 2.4 gigawatts (GW), using Russian export financing, according to the country’s Agency for Atomic Energy (AAE). In mid-June 2025, Kazakhstan chose Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom to lead the international consortium for constructing the plant, which will…
According to Tural Aliyev, an analyst at Freedom Finance Global, in the face of trade uncertainty and muted forecasts for the S&P 500, investors are better off putting their money into «old and reliable stocks.» Aliyev notes that Donald Trump’s return to the White House in January 2025 has once…
Kazakhstani online game Grand Mobile has raised $750,000 in investment from the Astana Hub Venture Fund. The deal was made at a company valuation of $75 million. Grand Mobile is an open-world RP life simulator created by 27-year-old Roman Lineytsev from Ust-Kamenogorsk, a participant in the Forbes «30 Under 30»…
According to Kazakhstan’s Minister of National Economy Serik Zhumangarin, the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) has become a tool that foreign companies use to evade taxes, turning it into something like an offshore zone within the country. The official made this claim during a discussion of the new Tax Code…
A plant for recycling plastic waste and producing PET (polyethylene terephthalate) preforms is set to be built in Almaty. The announcement came from Darkhan Satybaldy, the city’s mayor, following a recent meeting with Murat Kökoğlu, CEO of Turkish firm Köksan Holding. The facility will be constructed on a 15-hectare site…
KazMunayGas (KMG), the national oil company of Kazakhstan, has become the largest company in Kazakhstan by market capitalization, surpassing fintech giant Kaspi.kz, which has moved to second place, according to the Qazaq Association of Minority Shareholders (QAMS), which first noted this shift. Since the beginning of the year, KMG’s market…
