News

Last year was tough for the global cryptocurrency industry. A spate of scandals caused the industry to shrink threefold in terms of participants and plunged to $810 billion as of December 2022. There were some Kazakhstani traces in this cascade of events. Kursiv has taken a look at links that connected the country and Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of the collapsed crypto exchange.

The collapse of FTX – the world’s second-biggest cryptocurrency exchange – became a real shock for the entire industry. The FTX crisis was spurred by the default of Alameda, a company closely affiliated with Bankman-Fried. As a result...

According to Olzhas Kizatov, deputy head of the Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market of the Republic of Kazakhstan (ARDFM), about seven banks might be affected by new restrictions the agency is going to impose on dividend payout policy. All these banks have received financial support from the government.

«As we know, seven banks have public support tools on their balance. Among these tools are subordinated bonds (provided at easy repayment rates) and public money on banking deposits,» Kizatov said.

All seven banks won’t be able to conduct dividend payouts unless the...

Focus Brands, an American franchise company, is going to enter Uzbekistan’s market this year with its brand Cinnabon.

The geography of the company’s business expansion also includes Guyana, Singapore, Morocco and Taiwan.

Cinnabon is a bakery restaurant chain well known for its rolls with cinnamon and crème cheese. The brand franchise holders run 1,600 restaurants in 60 countries throughout the globe.

These restaurants are often located in crowded trading centers, airports and railroad stations.

According to Zhandos Shaimardanov, head of the Bureau of National Statistics, Kazakhstan will track inflation with the help of fiscal receipts.

«We are going to replace the current method of price registration with fiscal data. We will switch to the new method once the Single Catalogue of Goods and Services is implemented and the new way of validation is approved by the IMF. Meanwhile, we continue to use the traditional method of data collection, although in parallel we are testing the inflation calculation based fiscal receipts,» he said.

The official noted that some European countries...

Astana International Financial Center is going to host a new international trading platform called ITS. Once the registration process is completed, the platform will start working as a bridge between local investors and stocks of big global companies. ITS is going to provide investors with an opportunity to trade for 16 hours a day and guarantee that trades will be executed at the best international prices.

It is expected that ITS will operate along with KASE and AIX as an additional trading platform, not a new stock exchange. ITS is a multilateral trading facility (MTF) that doesn’t support initial public...

The ruling political party Amanat has nominated its candidates to Mazhilis and Maslikhats, including the chairman of the party and Ex-Speaker of Mazhilis Erlan Koshanov, Former Education Minister Askhat Aimagambetov and more than one hundred other nominees.

The list of 119 candidates has been approved at the urgent 26th summit of the party in Astana.

Among the most famous candidates are Kunsulu Zakarya, head of the National Holding QazBioPharm and one of the developers of the anti-COVID-19 vaccine QazVac; Emin Askerov, head of the social workshop Green Tal; Nikita Shatalov, political observer; Marat Bashimov, editor-in-chief of the Man and Law...

When Elena Rybakina reached the final of the Australia Open 2023, her position in the global ranking of tennis players raised dramatically. The leader of the national tennis team in Kazakhstan, she has broken into the top ten of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA). This is what a 23-year-old female tennis player’s success story looks like.

Elena Rybakina was born on June 17, 1999, in Moscow. She began playing tennis when she was a child and has never stopped since. Rybakina attended many sporting schools including Dinamo and Spartak. She even tested herself in gymnastics and figure skating but was...

The government of Kazakhstan is going to increase its export customs duty (ECD) for light and dark oil products threefold from a coefficient of 0.3 to 1, according to Vice Minister of Energy Aset Magauov.

«We are going to make the ECD for oil products and the crude oil the same with the coefficient 1. I mean that the old coefficient of 0.3 for light oil products will be increased to 1. About three years ago, this scheme had already been in place,» the official told Kursiv.

According to Magauov, three years ago the government planned to export oil products...

In 2022, mobile operator Beeline was forced to dismantle 340 cell sites because of radiophobia, according to the company’s press service.

In October 2022, there were 50 spots in Almaty and 20 spots in Astana where the quality of mobile connections decreased due to radiophobia. Residents demanded the company either to not install or to dismantle telecommunication equipment in the areas where they live.

In 2021, Beeline failed to install about 40% of its planned cell sites. The company noted that the problem is not the equipment – there is plenty of it in stock.

The government of Kazakhstan also...

The construction of light rail transit (LRT) in Astana must be completed, according to President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. Given that the government has already spent a huge amount of money on the project and the capital city desperately needs a better transportation system, there is no other choice.

The president made this statement during a meeting with Astana officials.

«Previously, I already said that the LRT project was mostly faulty, but now we have no choice but to complete the project. We will book much more losses if we stop right now. There are no alternatives for...

In January, the inflation rate in Kazakhstan increased to 20.7% on a year-on-year basis. In December 2022, inflation grew by 20.3%. Last year, food prices grew by 25.7%, non-food product prices surged by 20.2%, and the price for paid services rose by 14.3%, according to the Bureau of National Statistics.

In January 2023, the monthly inflation was at 1.1%. Food product prices grew by 1.4%, non-food product prices by 0.9%, and paid services increased by 0.7%.

In terms of specific products, the January price surge was 22.4% for cucumbers, 16.7% for onions, and 8.8% for tomatoes. Among non-food products, the...

In 2022, Kazakhstan authorities reported a 59% growth in tax revenues ($46 billion in total). According to the Association of Financiers of Kazakhstan (AFK), this growth was driven by high oil prices, economic growth and the weakening of the national currency. The AFK said that thanks to additional tax revenues, the government cut the deficit of the country’s consolidated budget to $2.8 billion (by 2.7 times).

Allocations to the National Fund, which is responsible for the accumulation of taxes from oil companies and tax for public property controlled by private entities, accounted for the biggest growth (48%). Corporate income...

Heads of the Internal Affairs Ministry and Ministry of Industry have ignored their scheduled meetings with the public, according to Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov.

In contrast, ministers of digital development, labor, energy and emergencies successfully held a set of such meetings. All of them were well organized and announced beforehand.

“Heads of several ministries failed to hold 15 scheduled meetings with the population. For instance, the Ministry of Industry failed to hold meetings in two regions. The Ministry of Energy and Internal Affairs did the same. No explanations will be accepted. Officials are obliged to hold...

As of December 2022, Kazakhstan’s international reserves increased by 1% to $90.8 billion, including $35 billion of gross international reserves and $55.7 billion of National Fund assets, according to the country’s National Bank.

At the same time, the regulator noted that the country’s gold and foreign currency reserves have dropped by 4.8% to $20.5 billion, while assets in freely convertible currency increased by 16.7% to $14.6 billion.

Gold and foreign currency reserves are meant to be used to support the tenge exchange rate or to finance the deficit of the balance of payments. The National Bank forms these reserves at...

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan is negotiating with its Japanese counterpart about the possible restart of regular direct flights between Astana and Tokyo, according to Aibek Smadiyarov, the ministry’s official spokesperson.

«We are interested in restarting these popular flights. I can’t provide any detail. The COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns have changed plans for many countries, so we need to negotiate either from scratch or from where our previous negotiations stopped,» he said during a media briefing.

The official noted that the ministry and its embassies are also negotiating about opening air travel to...

Alikhan Smailov, prime minister of Kazakhstan, took a poke at governors of regions that haven’t succeeded in attracting investments.

«Some governors say they reached the rate of investment attractiveness of 1% to 2%. They wanted us to think this was a big achievement, but it’s not. This is the indicator of a lack of systematic work.»

Alikhan Smailov

He also said that the Ulytau region virtually failed to implement five big projects for $58.7 million.

«The region still needs more than $108.4 million of investments into fixed capital. The regional authorities...

Kazakhstan authorities are planning to catch about 2,000 saiga antelopes for research and domestication, according to Andrey Kim, deputy head of the Forestry and Wildlife Committee.

The official said that scientists from the West Kazakhstan Agrarian and Technical University named after Zhangir khan, are establishing special breeding grounds to accumulate enough antelopes for research purposes. For example, scientists plan to domesticate the antelope and make it useful for national agriculture. The Institute of Zoology in Almaty is planning to do the same work.

“In this regard, we have given official permission to seize 1,815 calves from...

Kazakhstan’s Financial Monitoring Agency (FMA) has initiated an audit for the 2017 deal between KazMunayGas Service (a subsidiary of the KazMunayGas oil company, KMG) and Compass Group International B.V. Back then, the Kazakhstani company sold its 40% stake in KazMunayGas Service Compass to its foreign partner, according to Zhanat Elimanov, chairman of the agency.

“The Economic Investigation Department of Astana has requested the National Welfare Fund Samruk-Kazyna and Astana Department of Internal State Audit to perform an audit and see if the deal’s price was reasonable. The agency is ready to immediately launch a pre-trial investigation if the audit by...

Uzbekistan has been going through a massive privatization campaign as the country’s government offers investors almost everything to small and big companies and banks. However, not every potential investor is happy about the privatization, citing the lack of transparency.

Communication in business

The potential privatization of Uzagroexportbank was among the hottest news for Uzbekistan’s business community last year. In October, some local media reported that the government wanted to sell the bank directly to Support Level, a company controlled by Olimjon Shadiyev. There were so many rumors in the market that billionaire Patokh Chodiyev even tried to distance himself...

Maulen Ashimbayev, a member of the Senate, the upper house of Kazakhstan’s parliament, has been re-elected as the chamber’s speaker.

The candidacy of Ashimbayev was proposed by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who took part in the first Senate meeting after the house elections in the middle of January.

Ashimbayev did exceptionally well as the speaker, according to the president.

«As you all know, I have appointed Maulen Ashimbayev as the Senate deputy. Now, in accordance with item 1, article 58 of the constitution, I am proposing the candidacy of Maulen Ashimbayev for the position of speaker of the Senate,» Tokayev said...

More than one billion U.S. dollars of pension money will be invested this year by the National Bank of Kazakhstan into bonds issued by the Baiterek holding, according to an official statement on the regulator’s website.

It is expected that Baiterek will use this money to issue loans to big projects in machinery manufacturing, metallurgy, food and textile industries, construction and infrastructural projects. However, each of these projects must be approved by the government first.

As of January 1, 2023, the National Bank controlled $31.6 billion of pension money. About a half of these funds ($15.5 billion or 49.7%) has...

The authorities in Kazakhstan will create a list of people who will be obliged to reveal the origin of their assets, according to Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov.

«We are planning to create a limited list of individuals who have to file an income declaration. If an owner of certain assets can’t explain how he obtained them, the government will consider these assets illegally obtained and recover them,» he stated.

All such recovered assets are expected to be allocated for public projects in Kazakhstan.

Last year, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev ordered the cabinet to bring all illegally...

Decathlon, a French sports retailer, has decided to sell its Russian assets and is looking for potential buyers, according to the RBC news agency, citing unidentified sources.

The news agency reported that the company wants to sell its Russian business entirely. However, Decathlon hasn’t ruled out that it would just sell its commercial property in Russia.

Decathlon owns at least 135,000 square meters of commercial property in Russia. The company’s hypermarkets account for two-thirds of this property. The retailer also owns various offices, warehouses and empty land parcels, RBC reported.

The total amount of Decathlon’s assets in Russia is estimated...

The Ministry of National Economy came up with the idea of providing better lending terms for businesses involved in the reprocessing industry, agricultural processing and services. The draft document is available at the legalact.egov.kz website for public consideration.

Currently, the government provides subsidies only for those loans with a repayment period of five years and loans for working capital financing for three years. Now, the ministry suggests extending the period when the government can subsidize loans to seven years for any business representing one of the 15 priority sectors.

The proposal suggests subsidizing 14.25% per annum of a loan for...