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…
Qazaq Electric Ltd. plans to develop a network of electric vehicle charging stations in Kazakhstan in collaboration with the S. M. Kirov Machine Building Plant and defense firm Aselsan Engineering. Company Director Renat Zheksembayev announced the plans in an interview with Kursiv.media. «We produce stations ranging from 22 kW to…
The 17.78% drop in gold prices since the start of the Iran conflict falls outside historical norms, according to analysts at Halyk Finance. In a recent report, they noted that the metal could gain as much as 30% over the next 12 months. Liquidity shock drives early decline The outbreak…
Kazakhstan’s public finances improved markedly in the first three months of 2026, with treasury revenues and expenditures executed almost in full. Notably, value-added tax (VAT) receipts surged 48.6% year over year, even though some payments were still taxed at the previous 12% rate (for fourth-quarter 2025 liabilities). In addition, authorities…
The explosion at the Kazzinc plant in Ust-Kamenogorsk on May 5, 2026, which killed two people, has again drawn attention to the company’s environmental and operational challenges. Kazakh analyst Rassul Rysmambetov, in comments to Kursiv.media, discussed the potential sale of Kazzinc to businessman Shakhmurat Mutalip (on photo) — and why,…
Kazakhstan’s service sector returned to solid growth in April, according to the latest Freedom Holding Corp. PMI, signaling a rebound in business activity at the start of the second quarter. Surge in new business drives growth The Freedom Holding Corp. PMI Business Activity Index rose to 53.9 in April, up…
In April, Kazakhstan’s manufacturing industry showed the first signs of stabilization. The latest data from the Freedom Holding Corp. Manufacturing PMI shows a slight improvement in market conditions. Despite the continued contraction in production, factories reported their first influx of new orders in four months. The PMI remains negative The…
The number of billionaires worldwide continues to rise, but a key shift is underway: Europe is strengthening its position and could narrow the gap with the U.S. According to a report by Knight Frank, the global billionaire population is projected to reach 3,110 in 2026, up from 2,723 in 2021…
Iranian company Golrang Industrial Group is planning to construct an oil extraction plant and a broiler poultry farm totaling around $120 million, Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Agriculture reported. «As part of efforts to attract foreign investors, an agreement has been reached with the Iranian Golrang Industrial Group to implement two major…
Increased competition between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan is a positive development for Kazakhstan’s economy, political scientist Dossym Satpayev said in an interview with Armanzhan Baitassov. Central Asia emerging as an «island of stability» «Currently, two regions stand out for relative stability and investor interest: the Caucasus — particularly Azerbaijan — and…
Kazakhstan has no plans to change its format of participation in the OPEC+, the country’s Energy Ministry said. «Currently, the issue of changing the country’s format of participation in the alliance is not on the agenda,» the ministry said in a statement. Market context Reports that the United Arab Emirates…
