Freedom Bank has become the third-largest bank in Kazakhstan by transaction volume and the number of active clients, according to Timur Turlov, CEO and majority shareholder of Freedom Holding Corp., who took part in the Global Banking Summit in London. He made this statement during the panel discussion «The Future…
Kazakh Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov met with executives from the U.S.-based company LanzaJet to discuss the construction of a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) plant in the Kostanay region. According to the preliminary design, the facility is planned for the city of Rudny. The plant would have an annual capacity of…
Thanks to massive deposits of critical materials, China has managed to become the world’s largest producer of electric cars, prompting the EU and the U.S. to put up tariffs and trade barriers to protect their car markets from more affordable Chinese EVs. However, by concentrating all their attention on one…
Halyk Finance, a leading Kazakhstani investment bank, has acquired shares in the U.S. pizza chain Domino’s Pizza, according to data from the consolidated pension asset investment portfolio published on Kazakhstan’s Unified Pension Fund website. On Oct. 9, 2025, Halyk Finance purchased Domino’s shares worth 157 million tenge (about $305,000). World’s…
Managing companies in Kazakhstan will soon be able to invest up to 80% of Kazakhstanis’ pension savings in foreign-currency assets. Starting Jan. 1, 2026, the Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market (ARDFM) will introduce new limits on pension investments in instruments denominated in foreign currency. Currently, such…
The latest attack on the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) by Ukrainian naval drones — and the resulting partial shutdown of its terminal in the Russian port of Novorossiysk, which carries more than 80% of Kazakhstan’s oil exports — underscores how vulnerable Kazakhstan’s oil exports are due to the country’s systemic…
The partial shutdown of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) terminal in Novorossiysk, Russia, after a Nov. 29 attack by Ukrainian naval drones, highlights Kazakhstan’s ongoing export vulnerabilities. The terminal, which handles over 80% of Kazakhstan’s oil exports, now has its Offshore Mooring Terminal-3 (OMT-3) out of service, while OMT-2 has…
The Freedom Holding Corp. Kazakhstan Manufacturing PMI® (Purchasing Managers’ Index™) posted 49.0 in November, remaining below the 50.0 no-change mark for the sixth month running and therefore signaling a deterioration in the health of the manufacturing sector. That said, the latest reading was up from 48.3 in October and pointed…
Kazakhstan is developing a comprehensive road strategy through 2040 to keep pace with rapidly growing freight transit between Europe and China, Vice Minister of Transport Maksat Kaliakparov said during a Nov. 25 briefing. Surge in truck volume from China to Europe According to Kaliakparov, the number of trucks passing through…
Freedom Bank has received permission from Kazakhstan’s Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market to open a subsidiary bank in Georgia, the bank said in a statement. «The next step is the registration of FBG Company JSC, a special-purpose vehicle that will be authorized to obtain a digital…
Kazakhstan looks into introducing crypto exchange tools into payment terminals, a move that will allow payments for goods and services in cryptocurrencies. At the meeting of the Senate’s committee on finances and budget, Miras Zakiyev, the deputy chair of the committee of digital assets and breakthrough technologies of the Digital…
A Kazakhstani bank with a daily transaction volume of about $9 million can spend between $400,000 and $600,000 a year on transaction verification. The data comes from Baraiq, a developer of anti-fraud solutions for banks. Based on its data analysis, communication with financial institutions, and industry experience, the company found…
A sluggish economy, a battered real estate market, and tighter tech oversight have already squeezed China’s labor market. The rapid advance of artificial intelligence could make the situation even more challenging, according to RAND Corporation fellow Marianne Lu. Ambitious AI targets amid labor market strain Beijing has laid out sweeping…
Joint Kazakh-German venture Skyhansa has received 800 hectares of land in the Zhetysu region for the construction of a cargo and passenger airport on the territory of the Khorgos – Eastern Gate special economic zone, the region’s governor Beibit Isabayev stated during a government session. Development of the design specifications…
Batches of Kazakh honey, shubat (fermented camel milk), kumyz (fermented mare’s milk), and sweets will soon be available in stores operated by China Co-Op, a major Chinese cooperative retail chain, according to Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Trade. Export operator QazTrade and the National Association of Cooperatives of Kazakhstan have reached an…
Talgar Development Ltd., co-owned by investors from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), plans to construct Talgar Eco City, a new urban development in the Almaty region that will house up to 180,000 people, according to regional authorities. During a recent meeting with Almaty Region Gov. Marat Sultangaziyev, Talgar Development Ltd.…
Calls to require marketplaces — especially those affiliated with banks — to publish two prices for goods, one standard and one for installment plans, represent a «strange construct,» according to Vitaliy Tutushkin, deputy chairman of Kazakhstan’s National Bank. He shared his view on Nov. 21 during a Kursiv.media roundtable on…
Kazakhstan’s Agency for the Protection and Development of Competition has proposed selling up to a 50% stake in KMG International N.V. (a subsidiary of Kazakhstan’s national oil and gas company KazMunayGas, or KMG) through an open, two-stage bidding process in 2026-2027. The company is included on the national list of…
Kazakhstan’s flag carrier, Air Astana, has signed a memorandum of understanding for 50 Airbus A320neo aircraft, the airline said in a release. «Air Astana has committed to a major fleet modernization by signing a Memorandum of Understanding for up to 50 Airbus A320neo family aircraft. This would be the largest…
Kazakhstan’s external debt reached a record high of $172.8 billion at the end of June, according to analysts at Halyk Finance. While private companies hold about 71% of that debt, the latest increase is largely driven by the public and quasi-public sectors. Debt ratio and stability factors The country’s external…
On Nov. 20, Alphabet Inc.’s subsidiary Google established a new artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure hardware engineering center in Taiwan. According to Reuters, this marks the company’s largest center like this outside the U.S. According to a Google blog post, the new site will serve as a multidisciplinary hub for AI…
Microsoft and Westinghouse Nuclear are exploring ways to use artificial intelligence to accelerate the approval and construction of nuclear power plants in the U.S. But a new analysis from the AI Now Institute, cited by 404 Media, warns that this approach could introduce serious safety risks. Generative AI as a…
Vietnamese VinGroup is considering launching its EV taxi service, Xanh SM, in Kazakhstan. The company plans to establish a representative office in Almaty, which will work with the CIS region, Kazakh Invest reported. Kazakh Invest representatives held talks with the VinGroup SNG’s delegation, which included representatives of the group’s subsidiary…
Kazakhstan’s youngest workers — those aged 16 to 24, often referred to as Gen Z or «Zoomers» — earn less than any other age group in the country, according to data from Energyprom.kz. In 2025, Gen Z employees earned an average of 279,900 tenge ($535) a month, compared to over…
