The National Bank of Kazakhstan has granted the country’s first operating license to Astana-based cryptocurrency exchange service Pax Finance. The license allows the company to officially buy, sell and hold digital assets, as well as establish exchange offices and install crypto ATMs. The exchange service will operate under Kazakhstan legislation.…
Kazakhstan’s exports declined 3.2% year over year in 2025 to $79.0 billion, primarily because of unfavorable global market conditions. Exports of raw materials fell 4.5% to $50.7 billion, while shipments of processed goods proved more resilient, declining just 0.8% to $28.4 billion. As a result of greater export diversification and…
Conditions for doing business in Kazakhstan’s jewelry industry are more favorable than in neighboring Kyrgyzstan, according to Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Industry and Construction. The ministry said Kazakhstan offers a more comprehensive and flexible support system for jewelry manufacturers, with policies covering the entire production chain — from importing equipment and…
Kazakhstani banks earned a combined 239.8 billion tenge (approximately $510 million) in May 2026, the highest monthly profit since the beginning of the year. While the five most profitable lenders remained largely unchanged, state-owned Otbasy Bank unexpectedly climbed to third place, according to statistics from the National Bank of Kazakhstan.…
The introduction of new rules for importing goods from foreign online stores, which was due to take effect on July 1, 2026, has been delayed, Kazakhstan’s State Revenue Committee of the Ministry of Finance announced. The changes concern new customs regulations for e-commerce goods that will affect purchases from foreign…
Freedom Finansal Hizmetler A.Ş., a subsidiary of Freedom Holding Corp., has obtained approval from the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BRSA) and the Turkish Competition Authority. The regulators approved the acquisition of a 99.32% stake in the share capital of Turkish Bank A.Ş. New chapter for Freedom in Turkey Freedom…
The income of the wealthiest 10% of Kazakhstanis is 5.7 times higher than that of the poorest 10%, according to first-quarter 2026 data released by the Bureau of National Statistics. Read also: Forbes publisher explains why Nazarbayev’s relatives vanished from rich list. The bureau measured income inequality using the decile…
Masdar, a renewable energy company based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has officially kicked off construction of a 1-gigawatt wind farm in the Zhambyl region, Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Energy reported. The groundbreaking ceremony, which included the placement of a commemorative time capsule, was held via teleconference. In particular, Vice…
Nace.AI, a U.S.-based startup founded by Kazakhstanis Dos Bakytzhan (CEO and former head of GOAT.AI), Zhanibek Datbayev (CTO and former Meta AI engineer) and Abulhair Saparov (chief scientist and assistant professor of computer science at Purdue University), has attracted a major new investor — Jerry Yang, co-founder of Yahoo!, an…
Freedom Holding Corp. has announced the appointment of Valeriy Kim as its chief financial officer (CFO). He previously served as vice president of finance at Freedom Holding Corp. and chief executive officer of Freedom Holding Operations LLP, a subsidiary of Freedom Holding Corp. Kim assumes the role from Evgeny Ler,…
Kazakhstan’s Senate has approved amendments that would allow citizens to transfer up to 100% of their pension savings to private asset management companies for trust management. Under current rules, contributors may transfer no more than 50% of their pension assets to private managers. The changes were announced by MP Askhat…
Members of former Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s family were removed from the Forbes Kazakhstan rich list when the publication could no longer verify information about their wealth using publicly available sources, according to Armanzhan Baitassov, entrepreneur and owner of the Forbes franchise in Kazakhstan and Georgia, who shared the insight…
UK-based mining company East Star Resources is preparing to begin drilling at the Verkhuba deposit in the East Kazakhstan region to explore its reserves. The project will be financed through to the production stage by Chinese Xinhai, with which the British company has formed a joint venture in the Astana…
Kazakhstan has become the first Central Asian country to join Pax Silica, a U.S.-led international technology initiative focused on artificial intelligence and supply chain security that aims to strengthen economic security cooperation among allies and trusted partners. The documents formalizing Kazakhstan’s accession to the alliance, along with the joint statement…
The Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) and AKASHI Data Center PLC have agreed on financing terms for a major infrastructure project. The parties signed a memorandum of cooperation during the EDB’s Annual Meeting and Business Forum in Almaty, the company announced. The memorandum was signed by Sergey Ignatov, senior managing director…
Griffin Partners, a U.S.-based real estate investment and development firm, has signed an agreement with the Eurasian Development Bank to build a 125,400-square-meter warehouse complex in the new city of Alatau. An agreement to create a Class A+ logistics park was signed at the «Eurasia 2030+» EDB annual meeting and…
Akmaya Tungsten, which plans to build a mining and processing plant at the Akmaya tungsten deposit in Kazakhstan’s Karaganda region, expects to export its products to the U.S., Europe, Japan and South Korea, according to a draft project report outlining potential development plans. The company said the project would help…
The logistics corridor through Kazakhstan is experiencing unprecedented growth. In 2025, Chinese cargo transit through the country reached a record 20.2 million gross tons, up 32% from the previous year and the highest level recorded in at least 13 years. According to Data Hub, the upward trend has continued for…
By the end of this year, Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Finance plans to issue up to $1.5 billion in Eurobonds and $500 million in yen-denominated bonds, according to Reuters, citing Finance Minister Madi Takiyev. «Our target is anywhere from $1 billion to $1.5 billion. We want to raise it in London.…
Chinese technology company SuperX AI Technology Ltd. is considering building a cluster of artificial intelligence data centers in Kazakhstan with a total capacity of up to 1 gigawatt (GW). The project would be implemented in stages between 2026 and 2029. Read also: New 1-gigawatt data center project to transform Kazakhstan’s…
Eurasian Resources Group (ERG) plans to begin fieldwork soon to explore and potentially develop chromium deposits in Afghanistan, according to a Qazba.kz correspondent who recently visited Kabul with a Kazakh delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister Serik Zhumangarin. ERG may acquire a deposit in Afghanistan or form a joint venture…
Over the past two years, artificial intelligence (AI) has become one of the world’s leading investment topics. Tech companies are announcing the construction of gigantic AI clusters, governments are launching national programs and investment in computing infrastructure has reached hundreds of billions of dollars. At first glance, it might seem…
Technip Energies is set to conduct a technical and economic feasibility study for Kazakhstan’s fourth oil refinery, with an annual capacity of 10 million tons of oil, according to the Energy_Monitor Telegram channel. “Samruk-Kazyna is set to sign an agreement with engineering company Technip Energies to carry out the technical…
The case involving NCOC, the operator of the Kashagan oil field, is still under review by Kazakhstan’s Supreme Court. However, Zhomart Aliyev, Kazakhstan’s vice minister of ecology and natural resources, said he believes the government will ultimately recover 2.356 trillion tenge (about $5 billion) in environmental fines from the consortium.…
