The PPF Group, owned by Renáta Kellnerová, the richest woman in the Czech Republic, and her daughters, sold Home Credit Bank Kazakhstan and IT company HomeITTech for €436 million. However, in its 2025 financial statement, the group reported losses related to the transaction, according to the «Manual Economy» Telegram channel.…
Construction has begun on a copper backed by Chinese investment in Aktobe. The groundbreaking ceremony for the Eurasian Integrated Green Copper Plant, which will produce copper rod and cable products, took place in the Aktobe Special Economic Zone. The project is being carried out with support from the Aktobe region…
Kazakhstani businesses generally remain confident in their long-term resilience, with 62% of executives saying their companies are sustainable over the long term. The figure was nearly unchanged from last year, according to PwC Kazakhstan’s 14th annual CEO Survey 2026. That confidence, the survey noted, is driven by market diversification, strong…
Leading Kazakhstani nonalcoholic beverage producer RG Brands reported a net loss of 1.97 billion tenge (about $3.9 million) in the first quarter of 2026, up 70% from the same period a year earlier. Revenue for the quarter declined 39% to 24 billion tenge ($48 million). The company said the downturn…
Building a fourth large oil refinery in Kazakhstan with an annual processing capacity of 10 million tons could cost as much as $15 billion, including infrastructure expenses, according to Nurlan Zhumagulov, author of the Telegram channel Energy Monitor. Zhumagulov said the estimated price tag is comparable to the cost of…
Huating Biotechnology Co. Ltd. will open a cattle bone-processing plant in Kazakhstan’s Turkestan region, producing peptone for pharmaceuticals, oil for aviation fuel and bone char for porcelain manufacturing. A correspondent for Kursiv.media visited the future production site and spoke with the head of the Chinese company, Zhao Xuedong, about the…
The share of crude oil in Kazakhstan’s exports fell to a historic low of 44.4% in the first quarter of 2026. Strong growth in the non-oil sector helped offset losses from hydrocarbons, as record prices for copper, silver and sulfur boosted export revenues. Analysts say current geopolitical tensions could further…
The number of remote workers in Kazakhstan declined in the first quarter of 2026, according to new data from the Bureau of National Statistics (BNS), as most companies continued pushing employees back to the office. Read also: Why Kazakhstan’s major bank rejects remote work. Of Kazakhstan’s 9.39 million employed residents,…
The stock performance of Kazatomprom, the world’s largest uranium producer, has recently raised concerns among investors as shares in the national company continue to decline. According to stock exchange data, Kazatomprom shares fell to 32,790 tenge (approx. $70) during the afternoon trading session at 12:12 p.m. on April 21. Shares…
Compared with the U.S., Canada and Europe, Kazakhstan remains among the countries with the lowest household debt burdens. Global household debt continues to rise, but Kazakhstan’s level remains relatively low by international standards. Read also: Kazakhstan’s external debt in 2025 and budget for 2026 visualized. According to data from the…
Pension annuities and corporate accident insurance dominated Kazakhstan’s life insurance market in the first quarter of 2026. In the non-life segment, demand for voluntary personal insurance policies declined amid cooling retail lending. Read also: Kazakh regulator greenlights insurance companies to establish marketplaces. Assets in Kazakhstan’s insurance sector increased by 121…
China is expanding its presence in Kazakhstan’s green energy sector, with Chinese companies involved in building a significant share of the solar and wind power plants scheduled to come online. Read also: China takes the lead in Kazakhstan’s renewable energy push. The share of renewable energy sources in Kazakhstan’s total…
Financial analyst Andrey Chebotarev compared a proposal by Lyazzat Ibragimova, head of Otbasy Bank, the sole bank implementing housing construction savings system in Kazakhstan, to the policies of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in a post on his Telegram channel. Criticism of housing tax proposal Chebotarev added Ibragimova to what he called his «Maduro…
The war involving Israel, the U.S. and Iran has prompted more countries to use the yuan in trade, including oil transactions, according to Madiyar Kenzhebulat, an economist at the BSR research group. These countries include Persian Gulf states that supply oil to China and purchase goods from Chinese manufacturers. Shift…
German automaker Mercedes-Benz Group may return to defense production amid shifting geopolitical conditions in Europe, CEO Ola Källenius said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. He said that the world had become a more unpredictable place, and he thought it was clear that Europe needed to strengthen its…
U.S. authorities are reportedly moving toward dropping criminal fraud charges against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, following progress in a related civil case and discussions about his planned investments in the U.S., Reuters reported. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) had accused Adani of involvement in a bribery scheme to secure…
Some professions will remain in demand despite the rapid advance of AI, Kazakhstan’s Vice Minister of Labor and Social Protection Yerbol Tuyakbayev told journalists at a Senate briefing yesterday. According to Tuyakbayev, technical and skilled-trades jobs continue to be «timeless» professions in the country. «Certainly, it is very difficult to…
Georgia’s banking system expanded in 2025 with the addition of two new players from the microfinance sector. The total assets of the country’s second-tier banks exceeded 100% of GDP by the end of the year, while net profit reached a record 3.3 billion lari (about $1.2 billion). As Georgia’s largest…
The International Monetary Fund has upgraded its forecast for Kazakhstan’s economy in 2026. According to the IMF’s latest review, Kazakhstan’s nominal gross domestic product is expected to reach approximately $360 billion, which would rank the country 49th among the world’s largest economies. Read also: Kazakhstan’s richest people and their assets…
Kazakhstan’s gross international reserves reached $67.78 billion, up 3.62% since the beginning of 2026, according to preliminary data from the National Bank as of May 1. Monetary gold emerged as the main driver again. Its volume over the first months of 2026 increased by 11.55% to $52.69 billion. At the…
South Korea’s semiconductor giants are riding a powerful wave of demand driven by artificial intelligence (AI), pushing SK Hynix, a South Korean manufacturer of dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) chips and flash memory, close to a historic valuation milestone of $1 trillion, Reuters reported. Investor enthusiasm has been fueled by surging…
SpaceX subsidiary Starlink, which already provides internet access in Kazakhstan through low-Earth-orbit satellites, will be required to register in the country and purchase internet traffic from local operators, according to Zhaslan Madiyev, Kazakhstan’s deputy prime minister and minister of AI and digital development. «Satellite internet service is supplementary to internet…
Kazakhstan, together with Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, plans to move into the practical construction phase of the Kambarata-1 Hydropower Plant project, according to Jamshid Khodjaev, Uzbekistan’s deputy prime minister. Read also: Kazakhstan to fund massive Kyrgyz dam for energy security. Khodjaev said the 1,860-megawatt Kambarata-1 HPP is expected to become the…
Kazakhstan’s banking statistics for March reflected a 3.8% strengthening of the tenge. The sector also benefited from increased liquidity driven by an inflow of corporate deposits, allowing banks to partially restore assets to levels seen at the beginning of 2026. The loan portfolio fully recovered, although growth continued to be…
