The traditional five-day, 40-hour workweek is increasingly being challenged as companies and governments recognize that longer hours do not necessarily translate into greater productivity. A recent ranking by World Population Review highlights how the global shift toward shorter work schedules is reshaping ideas about productivity and employee well-being. From experimental…
Lion Finance Group, the parent company of Bank of Georgia, hasn’t approached Kazakhstan’s regulator about acquiring a local bank, Madina Abylkassymova, chair of the Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market, told Kursiv.media. «The agency has not received any application from the company, and at present we have…
Retail investing in Kazakhstan is no longer a niche market. In the first quarter of 2026, the KASE Index gained 10.0% to 7,734.60 points, while retail investors accounted for 43.5% of equity trading volume. The market includes brokers licensed by the Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market…
Lion Finance Group Plc, a Georgian banking group that controls Bank of Georgia, is planning to expand into the Central Asian market. According to CEO Archil Gachechiladze, the group plans to acquire large banks in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, as well as in the Baltics and the Balkans. Interestingly, Lion Finance…
China, Kazakhstan and Russia are exploring the possibility of creating a transport corridor along the Irtysh and Ob rivers. The new waterway could connect China’s western regions with the Arctic, according to the South China Morning Post. The route would run from Xinjiang through Kazakhstan and Russia before reaching the…
Emmanuel Besnier, CEO of France’s Lactalis Group, the world’s largest dairy company, is changing the group’s approach to its assets in Kazakhstan. Lactalis’ Kazakhstani subsidiary, FoodMaster Company JSC, will now reinvest the vast majority of its profits in the business, directing more funds toward production upgrades while reducing payments to…
A few years ago, journalist and blogger Kirill Pavlov came up with an unusual way to track the value of the U.S. dollar against the Kazakh tenge: the «Shymkent Shashlik Index.» He first discussed the idea in 2020. At the time, a single skewer of shashlik (kebab) in Shymkent cost…
South Korea’s Lotte Hotels & Resorts is being considered for a role in the Iconic Tower project in Kazakhstan’s new city of Alatau. This was announced at a meeting of the Alatau City Council chaired by Kazakh Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov, the government’s press service reported. Earlier, the Iconic Towers…
Choosing the right college major has become a high-stakes decision in an era of rising tuition costs and rapid technological change. A recent ranking by World Population Review highlights how the shifting economy is changing the value of traditional degrees while elevating alternative career paths. Today, the strongest prospects often…
Kazakhstan’s real GDP growth is expected to remain above 5% in 2027-2029, but below the 2025 level. According to a baseline forecast presented by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Economy Serik Zhumangarin, the economy is projected to grow by 5.3% in 2027, 5.5% in 2028 and 5.4% in…
According to Evgeny Karabanov, head of the analytical committee of the Kazakhstan Grain Union, Kazakhstani farmers risk a drop in demand and a new financial crisis as Russia may send significant volumes of cheap grain to Central Asian countries, which have traditionally been key buyers of Kazakhstani wheat and flour.…
Investment in fixed capital in Kazakhstan increased by 7.7% year-on-year to 11.46 trillion tenge (approx. $24.88 billion) in the first seven months of 2026. Investment in manufacturing and construction recorded particularly strong growth, rising by 36.1% and 26.8%, respectively, according to the Eurasian Development Bank’s (EDB) weekly macroeconomic review. An…
Since 2022, foreign marketplaces, social networks, streaming platforms and other digital services have paid 178.8 billion tenge ($388.8 million) to Kazakhstan’s budget. In the first seven months of 2026 alone, revenue reached 51.5 billion tenge ($112 million) — almost as much as the state collected for all of last year,…
Singapore’s Changi Airport Group (CAG) has offered to share its expertise with Kazakhstan on the construction of a new airport in Astana. The announcement followed a meeting between Kazakh Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov and CAG CEO Yam Kum Wang. Astana’s second airport is one of the key projects the country’s…
Kazakhstan recorded 637.2 billion tenge (approximately $1.4 billion) in investment in trade and related sectors from January to July 2026, up 22.3% year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Trade and Integration. The strongest investment growth was recorded in the North Kazakhstan, Karaganda, Kostanay, Abai and Mangystau regions, as well as…
In July, Georgia imported Kazakhstani oil for the first time. The shipment totaled 5,500 tons and was worth $3.2 million, according to data from Georgia’s National Statistics Office. The average price of oil shipped from Kazakhstan was around $582 per ton. For comparison, Georgia imported 87,400 tons of Russian oil…
Construction has begun on the QAZBOT complex in Astana. It is set to become Kazakhstan’s first facility for producing humanoid robots and developing artificial intelligence solutions. Investment in the first phase of the project alone is estimated at around $200 million, Atameken Business reported. QAZBOT Technologies said the new Robotics…
Beijing-based China Construction Bank (CCB) is considering establishing a subsidiary in Kazakhstan. The potential expansion was a key topic of discussion between CCB President Zhang Jinliang and officials from Kazakhstan’s Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market (ARDFM) and the National Bank. During the meeting, the two sides…
Chinese robot-maker Unitree Robotics made a blockbuster debut on Shanghai’s STAR Market on Wednesday, with shares surging more than 600% in early trading, the BBC reported. The company, officially Yushu Technology Co. Ltd., was founded in 2016 in Hangzhou and builds humanoid and quadruped robots, robotic arms and sensors. It…
Kazakhstani confectionery producer Lotte Rakhat plans to expand its export geography. The company is considering South Korea, Indonesia and Thailand as new export destinations, Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Agriculture reported. Currently, about 22% of the company’s products are sold outside Kazakhstan. Russia remains the largest foreign market, accounting for around 65%…
The UK-registered company Nostrum Oil & Gas will sell its oil and gas assets in Kazakhstan to Altaris Holding, a company associated with Kazakhstani tycoon Kenes Rakishev. Oil and gas industry analyst Nurlan Zhumagulov believes that for Rakishev, the value of Nostrum Oil & Gas’s assets may lie not only…
Freedom Insurance has grown nearly tenfold in five years, offset billions in auto insurance losses through digitalization and is now preparing to launch an insurance marketplace. In an interview with Kursiv.media, Freedom Insurance CEO Azamat Kerimbayev explained why auto insurance rates are set to rise by more than 40% for…
The Kazakh government has allocated 40.7 billion tenge (around $88 million) for geological exploration and the search for promising mineral deposits. The work is planned for 2026-2028 and will focus on gold, copper, lithium, rare earth elements and other strategically important resources, Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Industry and Construction reported. The…
Starting May 1, Kazakhstan has been supplying crude oil to Germany via alternative routes. Kazakhstan’s Energy Ministry told TASS, a Russian news agency, under what terms and conditions a return to the previous arrangement would be possible. «At present, supplies of Kazakhstani crude oil to Germany via the Atyrau-Samara-Druzhba pipeline…
