In late January, authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) notified mining companies operating in the country that they must allocate 5% of their shares to local employees, according to Bloomberg. The requirement applies to Eurasian Resources Group (ERG), a Kazakh mining holding company that produces copper and…
Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said effective engagement with investors requires cooperation among government agencies through a single coordination and decision-making center. New appointments to oversee investment work Presidential aide Murat Nurtleu has been appointed coordinator for work with foreign investors, while presidential adviser Asset Irgaliyev will oversee engagement with international…
Alatau, Kazakhstan’s new flagship megaproject, is set to become the region’s first fully digital city, featuring blockchain integration and a cryptocurrency-based economy, according to the Almaty regional administration, where the city is located. International partnerships and investment During a recent visit to China, a Kazakh delegation concluded agreements worth billions…
Timur Turlov’s Freedom Holding Corp. (FRHC) released its financial results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2026 (ended Dec. 31, 2025), revealing $1.688 billion in revenue and $145 million in net profit for the first nine months of the fiscal year. The company also reported strong growth in key…
Kazakhstan is willing to supply 20 of the 60 minerals considered critical to the U.S., Kazakh Foreign Minister Yermek Kosherbayev said during the first ministerial conference on critical minerals in Washington, according to the Kazinform news agency. Delegations from more than 50 countries attended the conference last week. During the…
The international trading platform ITS has completed the regular rebalancing of its flagship ITS World Index, increasing the number of Kazakhstani issuers in the index from two to five. Who joined the top list? The index basket, which tracks 50 of the world’s largest corporations, added three new representatives from…
Kazakhstan’s banking sector will remember the year 2025 for a sharp decline in profit growth amid additional taxation and higher minimum reserve requirements. Growth in loan and deposit portfolios also slowed, though less dramatically than financial results. Total sector assets rose from 61.6 trillion to 70.8 trillion tenge in 2025…
South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb mistakenly transferred 620,000 bitcoins to users — coins worth more than $42 billion at current prices. The incident was caused by human error rather than a cyberattack. An error costing billions According to the South Korean newspaper Chosun, the mistake occurred during the distribution of…
Timur Turlov’s Freedom Bank has ranked among the top three banks in Kazakhstan for the highest interest rates on certificates of deposit, alongside Home Credit and Eurasian Bank, according to Ranking.kz. Freedom Bank, part of the Freedom Finance ecosystem supervised by well-known financier Timur Turlov, became the first bank in…
Oil and gas giant Shell will suspend investments in Kazakhstan during ongoing legal proceedings with the government, according to CEO Wael Sawan. He said multiple lawsuits filed by the republic, totaling billions of dollars, are reducing the company’s willingness to continue investing in the country. Kazakhstan is currently involved in…
On Feb. 4, as part of Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s state visit to Pakistan, he and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif attended the Kazakhstan-Pakistan Business Forum, according to the Akorda press service. Speaking at the forum, Tokayev thanked the Pakistani prime minister for initiating the event, calling his first state visit…
Timur Turlov, founder and CEO of Freedom Holding Corp., plans to acquire another bank and a local marketplace in Kazakhstan. The company is also looking to purchase a second-tier bank in Turkey. To finance these initiatives, the holding is considering issuing up to $500 million in bonds, Turlov said. In…
China’s Hong Kong–based Sino-Science Oil and Gas Co. Ltd., also known as Geo-Jade Petroleum, plans to produce up to 1 trillion cubic meters of natural gas from the Sozak field in southern Kazakhstan, according to Sultangali Kinzhakulov, CEO of Kazakh Invest. Kinzhakulov said the project involves reinvesting profits earned by…
Federal prosecutors in Chicago have indicted two Kazakh citizens in connection with a large-scale health care fraud scheme involving private insurance and Medicare. Investigators estimate that losses to public and private insurers exceeded $1 billion. Case against Anuar Abdrakhmanov One indictment centers on Anuar Abdrakhmanov, a Kazakh citizen accused of…
Kazakhstan’s Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market and the National Bank have approved new rules allowing banks with universal licenses, as well as Islamic banks, to operate with digital financial assets. Three categories of digital assets Under the regulations, banks may conduct transactions involving three types of…
In January, shares of Kazatomprom traded on Kazakhstan’s KASE and AIX exchanges rose 49.5%. The uranium giant led all Kazakhstani firms in both share price growth and trading volume, economist Arman Batayev said on his Telegram channel. Policy shifts boost nuclear outlook Batayev attributed the rally to foreign policy and…
Kazakhstan’s second nuclear power plant (NPP), to be built by China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), will also be located in the Zhambyl district of the Almaty region, according to a government decree dated Jan. 26. Russia awarded first nuclear project Kazakhstan’s first NPP will be built by Russia’s state-owned nuclear…
Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Transport said it is working on implementing a joint project with Afghanistan to build the Turgundi-Herat-Kandahar-Spin Boldak railway, which is set to ensure goods delivery from Central Asia to the ports of Pakistan. The cabinet held a session with an interagency working group on developing cooperation with…
Kazakhstan’s economy is showing signs of overheating amid accelerating growth, loose fiscal policy and active consumer lending, according to a report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The IMF noted that after growing by approximately 5% in 2023 and 2024, the country’s economy has continued to accelerate — to 6.5%…
ASML Holding NV plans to eliminate roughly 1,700 positions, primarily within its technology divisions, according to Chief Executive Officer Christophe Fouquet, Bloomberg reported. The announcement came as the Dutch tech giant reported its 13th straight year of revenue growth. Most of the job reductions will take place in the Netherlands,…
The Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE) plans to launch the country’s first exchange-traded funds linked to KASE indices, marking a milestone for Kazakhstan’s capital markets. The move will allow retail investors to gain exposure to the domestic market using a structure similar to widely followed global benchmarks such as the S&P…
Kazakhstan’s Energy Minister Yerlan Akkezhenov said production at the Tengiz oil field is being restored in stages, with full output expected to resume within a week. Fields restarting after fire Speaking on the sidelines of Parliament, Akkezhenov said production at the Korolevskoye field has already been fully restored. He added…
Energia Semirechya, a company with predominantly Chinese ownership that operates the Shelek-1 wind farm in the Almaty region, southern Kazakhstan, reported a net loss of 3.28 billion tenge ($7 million) in 2024. Losses widen despite growing revenue The wind farm was launched in 2022, but the company has failed to…
The resumption of operations at the CPC Black Sea terminal and the expected restart of oil production at Tengiz have pushed oil prices lower. Positive news about the recovery of Kazakh oil supplies was strong enough to overshadow concerns over the winter storm that hit a large swath of the…
