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…
Paracetamol has emerged as the most popular over-the-counter (OTC) drug in Kazakhstan, with nearly 3 million packages sold in the past year. Rounding out the top five are sodium chloride, ethyl alcohol, acetylsalicylic acid and Citramon P. Tracking demand This fresh data comes from Kazakhstan’s newly implemented mandatory labeling and…
The tenge rate fell to 532 per U.S. dollar during trading on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE) on July 17, 2025, hitting an all-time low. The last transaction at 11:48 Astana time was at 532.5 tenge per dollar. The tenge opened the trading session at 525.7 per dollar but fell…
Toyota Financial Services Kazakhstan (TFS), a microfinance organization, issued unsecured coupon bonds on July 16, 2025, worth approximately $9.5 million. Proceeds from the bond placement will be used to provide microloans to individuals and businesses in Kazakhstan, secured by vehicles, according to a release on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE)…
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…
In recent years, a growing number of Kazakh citizens have gone abroad for seasonal work, especially to the United Kingdom, marking a new socio-economic trend. This shift has reshaped not only labor migration patterns but also financial flows. Seasonal farm work As of May 2025, remittances from the U.K. to…
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…
Kazakhstan will not pursue a hardline revision of production sharing agreements (PSAs) with foreign investors operating the country’s largest oil fields — Tengiz, Karachaganak and Kashagan — according to Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov. In January 2025, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev directed the cabinet to accelerate negotiations on extending PSAs under new,…
According to estimates from Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Industry and Construction, given current extraction volumes, the country has enough gold to mine for the next 30 years, while iron ore reserves could last an estimated 957 years. «Kazakhstan maintains its position as a country with immense reserves of natural resources. The…
The government of Kazakhstan has abandoned its earlier plan to merge the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE) and the Astana International Exchange (AIX) under the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC). According to Timur Suleimenov, chair of the National Bank, the decision is part of a broader reform of the AIFC that…
Kazakhstan may invest a portion of its gold and foreign currency reserves, along with assets from its National Fund, in crypto assets, according to National Bank Chairman Timur Suleimenov. Alternative portfolio «We have an alternative portfolio of gold and foreign currency reserves and an alternative portfolio of the National Fund.…
Alatau City Bank, formerly known as Jusan Bank, reported that Forbes Kazakhstan-listed billionaire Vyacheslav Kim finalized the deal to acquire a 100% stake in the financial organization. «The acquisition of Alatau City Bank is extremely important for me, and I plan to create on its basis a fundamentally new financial…
Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has signed a decree establishing a new council to oversee the country’s National Fund, a sovereign wealth fund financed by oil revenues. Tokayev will serve as chair. The decree nullifies a 2004 order that designated former President Nursultan Nazarbayev as chair of the council. Regular members…
Kazakhstan’s net international reserves fell by $366 million (-0.73%) to $49.8 billion in June 2025, according to the National Bank. It marks the second consecutive monthly decline since the start of the year. Gross international reserves, which include assets in freely convertible currencies and monetary gold, dropped by $282 million…
KazMunayGas (KMG), Kazakhstan’s state-owned oil and gas company, reported that oil production at the Dunga field in the Mangystau region reached 340,000 tons between January and June 2025, an increase of 7,000 tons year-on-year. In 2024, the field produced 630,000 tons of oil, and KMG is projecting the output to…
Condor Energies Inc., a Canadian-based energy transition company, will build methanol and liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants in Kazakhstan. Once operational, the LNG plant will be the first of its kind in Central Asia, according to the administration of the Mangystau region. The announcement followed a meeting on July 8…
Kazakhstan and other OPEC+ countries will increase oil production in August to help maintain market stability, the group announced. The increase is part of a phased rollback of voluntary production cuts. The eight OPEC+ countries — Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Algeria and Oman —…
A new uranium processing plant has been launched in the Sozak district of Kazakhstan’s Turkestan region, according to Kazatomprom, the country’s national nuclear company. The plant is located at the South Tortkuduk deposit and is operated by KATCO, a Kazakh-French joint venture in which France’s Orano Mining holds a 51%…
Signs of a growing deficit are emerging in the global uranium market, according to Dastan Kosherbayev, chief strategy and international development officer at Kazatomprom, Kazakhstan’s national nuclear company and the world’s largest uranium producer. Speaking at the Virtual Uranium Conference, as reported by Inbusiness.kz, Kosherbayev warned that the imbalance is…
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»…
Kazakhstan’s Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market (ARDFM) has released a draft law aimed at limiting the involvement of banks and bank holding companies in digital marketplaces, depending on the size of their capital. The proposed regulation, open for public comment through July 15, outlines new rules…
Zaman Bank, Kazakhstan’s Islamic bank, was the country’s sole financial institution to post a loss in May, reporting a deficit of approximately $2.4 million, according to data from the National Bank of Kazakhstan. The bank made headlines in November 2024 when a test payment was successfully processed between Zaman Bank…
