KMF, the largest microfinance organization (MFO) in Kazakhstan, is set to launch banking services this August, the company said in a statement. The decision followed the receipt of permission to convert into a bank from Kazakhstan’s Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market (ARDFM) in March. On July…
The European Union has created an exemption in its 18th sanctions package allowing Kazakh coal to transit through certain Russian ports, Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Trade and Integration announced. According to the ministry, the exemption applies only to coal of Kazakh origin. Additionally, the cargo must be owned by entities not…
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…
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has raised its inflation forecast for Kazakhstan in 2025, revising its earlier estimate of 8.2% to 10.2%, according to the bank’s July 2025 Asian Economic Outlook. The adjustment comes amid higher-than-expected inflationary pressure in Armenia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. In Kazakhstan, despite the National Bank’s tight…
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…
Home Credit Bank (HCB) will retain its credit profile after 100% of its shares are sold to ForteBank, according to Fitch Ratings. Moreover, the rating agency believes the government is unlikely to object if ForteBank provides support to HCB. According to HCB’s 2024 financial statements, cash loans account for 80%…
Safi Holding, a major multi-sector conglomerate in Turkey, is exploring the construction of a sugar refinery in Kazakhstan, with plans to invest up to $200 million. The plans were discussed during a meeting between Kazakhstan’s Minister of Agriculture Aidarbek Saparov and the holding’s CEO Atakan Safi. The company intends to…
The Caspian Sea, the world’s largest inland body of water, has reached its lowest level in recorded history, dropping below minus 29 meters based on the Baltic height system (BHS-77). The sharp decline has particularly impacted the shallow northern part of the sea, which borders Kazakhstan and Russia, according to…
Kazakhstan’s Bank CenterCredit (BCC) has become the first bank in the country to enable card-to-card transfers through UnionPay International. The new service, now available through BCC’s mobile app, allows users to send money from Kazakhstan to China and other countries using UnionPay cards, the bank announced in a press release.…
The Association of Financiers of Kazakhstan (AFK), in its latest daily review of stock exchange events, advocated for Kazakhstan’s National Bank to conduct currency interventions aimed at stabilizing the tenge exchange rate. The AFK highlighted that during the trading session on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange on July 23, the USD/KZT…
Shares of KazMunayGas (KMG), Kazakhstan’s national oil company, have surged more than 25% over the past two months, despite a lack of clear catalysts, according to data from the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE). Steady growth Since May 22, 2025, KMG stock has climbed steadily, reaching 18,699 tenge (nearly $35) per…
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…
Kazakhstan’s national currency, the tenge, fell to a historic low of 538.9 per U.S. dollar during trading on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE) on July 23. The rate dropped by 0.75% or 4 tenge by the close of the session. This marks the second record low for the tenge in…
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…
