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General Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Kazakhstan has initiated the withdrawal of a settlement between the former banker Orifdjon Shadiyev and the National Bank. The settlement was aimed at the restructuring of a $32.4 million debt.

«After the intervention of the General Prosecutor’s Office, the Supreme Court has ordered Shadiyev to give the National Bank back its $32.4 million, which the businessman borrowed,» the regulatory agency said.

In 2017, the National Bank issued an easy loan of $57.3 million to Capital Bank Kazakhstan (controlled by Shadiyev) under Shadiyev’s guarantee. The loan was supposed to help the bank cope with...

On January 23, several restaurants that used to work under the McDonald’s brand reopened under the unusual sign “We are open,” according to Dmitry Avteikin, director of Kazakhstan’s fast food chain.

“Yes. We have reopened our restaurants in Almaty. We will announce what brand it will be, but it’s not McDonald’s,” he said.

Erlan Sakenov, a blogger from Astana, was the first to write about the reopening of former McDonald’s restaurants. He believes the “We are open” sign in Kazakh and Russian languages looks and sounds like a brand. The blogger recalled a similar situation in Belarus. When McDonald’s left...

According to Aidos Ukibay, the press secretary of the first president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev has gone through surgery by prominent cardiac surgeon Yuriy Pya.

«The operation was good… Currently, he is under medical observation. The surgery was executed in the National Research Cardiac Surgery Center under the supervision of the prominent surgeon Yuriy Pya,» Ukibay wrote on Twitter.

The ex-president is safe now, the official highlighted.

Later, Pya said that it was planned surgery and Nazarbayev’s condition is stable.

This operation was planned last year. As he has a busy schedule, we decided to arrange the surgery at a...

According to the Primeminister.kz website, Umit Nuri Yildiz, head of the Turkish company Alarko Holding, met with Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Alikhan Smailov. The two sides have discussed their cooperation in the spheres of energy, railway and motor transportation, clean water and waste recycling among others.

The Turkish company said that it has qualified workers and equipment to implement a wide range of projects in Kazakhstan. In turn, Smailov noted that the country is ready to discuss any details of potential cooperation.

Kazakhstan’s pool of investment projects currently includes about 850 promising projects in various fields. Alarko Holding plans to...

Members of Mazhilis, the lower house of Kazakhstan’s parliament, have stepped down. The move followed President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s edict on dismissing the lower house and organizing early elections for the parliament. The edict was published and entered into force today January 19, 2023.

«In accordance with item 2 of article 44 and item 1 of article 63 of the Constitutions of the Republic of Kazakhstan and article 85 of the constitutional law on elections in the Republic of Kazakhstan, I hereby order to dissolve the Mazhilis of the parliament of the seventh convocation,» the official edict said.

The president noted...

According to Yernur Rysmagambetov, deputy CEO of the Astana International Financial Center (AIFC) Authority, there are eight crypto exchanges registered at the center. He made this statement during the plenary session of the Senate, the upper house of Kazakhstan’s parliament.

Rysmagambetov also added that 19 more cryptocurrencies are going to be registered in the AIFC.

«According to some estimates, 100,000 to 1,000,000 citizens may be active users of crypto assets in Kazakhstan. The total amount of such assets may be about several billion to several tens of billions, although there is no precise data,» the official said.

All unsecured assets...

On January 26, 2023, the country is going to adopt a set of new rules for entering and staying in Kazakhstan, including a new rule for citizens of member states of the EEU. They will be able to stay in Kazakhstan for 90 days over the calendar period of 180 days.

All other foreigners, who come to Kazakhstan can legally stay in the country for 30 days in a row and 90 days total over the calendar period of 180 days.

Also, Kazakhstan is going to remove a rule regarding visa runs. This is a practice when a foreigner leaves...

According to Marat Karabayev, the minister of industry and infrastructural development of Kazakhstan, government-imposed restrictions on commodity exports have proved their efficacy.

«The measures we’ve taken to restrict commodity exports let us manage the problem of commodity good shortages in the domestic market. We shipped more commodities to local producers, increased the degree of goods processing and replace many imported things with domestic products,» he said during the meeting with Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov.

The official also noted that this work continued throughout last year. As a result, the ministry orchestrated the signing of seven agreements concerning the supply of...

Mazhilis, the lower house of Kazakhstan’s parliament has approved the interstate agreement between France and Kazakhstan on criminal matters. However, the document won’t help Kazakhstani authorities make Mukhtar Ablyazov, a former Kazakhstani banker and opposition activist, come back to the country, according to Prosecutor General Aset Chindaliyev.

The agreement requires Kazakhstan and France to follow the rules of mutual legal assistance in anything linked to criminal matters. It is expected that by sticking to this practice the two sides will act more effectively in crime prevention.

«This agreement covers legal assistance only. These are legal actions like interrogations and police...

According to the Eurasian Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Russia’s stake in the bank has decreased from 65.98% to 44.79%, which means that the country no longer possesses a controlling stake in the EBRD.

The bank is going to distribute this 21.2% stake Russia used to own (321,151 shares) between other members of the bank. As a result, these shares will go to the following: Kazakhstan – 37.29%, Armenia – 4.23%, Kyrgyzstan – 4.23%, Belarus – 5.21% and Tajikistan – 4.25%.

This decision was made by the EBRD council on December 30, 2022, although this issue was discussed this...

The head of PPF Group, a financial company from the Czech Republic, is going to take full control over the Kazakhstani Home Credit, according to Kirill Bachvarov, board chairman of the bank.

«We are going to expand the bank’s shareholder structure over the following months. I think it is likely that Mr. Šmejc will control a 100% share of the bank by the end of this year,» he said. Even though there isn’t 100% faith that other stakeholders will agree to sell their stakes, the bank’s management anticipates this result,” Bachvarov added. 

Currently, Šmejc owns a 34.7% stake in Home...

According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), Central Asia is going to face a higher rate of unemployment this year. Like Europe, this region is suffering from the economic consequences of the war in Ukraine.

However, the growth of unemployment is going to be moderate, the ILO reported. More than three million people are expected to lose their jobs in 2023 in addition to 208 million people who are already unemployed. This is about 5.8% of the global workforce.

Beyond the gap in employment, job quality remains a key concern. The projected slowdown is likely to force workers to accept...

On December 30, 2022, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev of Uzbekistan signed an edict that reorganized some ministries. As a result, some officials have been promoted while others got the prefix «ex» added to their previous titles.

During his address to the nation, Mirziyoyev stated that the first stage of the reform will cover ministries and the style of work of the cabinet. The number of executive bodies under the cabinet’s supervision is going to be decreased from 61 to 28. Similarly, the number of ministries is set to decrease from 25 to 21. The number of public sector employees is going...

The Russian fast food chain Vkusno i tochka is going to register its trademark in Kazakhstan. Sistema PBO, the company running the chain, has already filed the relevant application, the Interfax Kazakhstan news agency said, citing the intellectual property department of the Ministry of Justice of Kazakhstan.

«The application filed by Sistema PBO for registration of several trademarks with the words Vkusno i tochka are under consideration of the authorized agency,» the intellectual property department said.

Vkusnoi i tochka has been operating in Russia since the moment Russian businessman Alexander Govor acquired the franchise rights to McDonald’s in Russia.

Currently...

Members of Kazakhstan’s parliament have officially denounced the law on the first president Elbasy. They did this during the joint plenary session of the upper and lower houses of the parliament.

MP Erlan Sairov gave a speech before members of the two chambers. He reminded them that the move followed the referendum last summer when a set of amendments to the current constitution was supported by the people of Kazakhstan.

«The previous version of the constitution included clause 4 of article 46, which said that the status and authority of the first president Elbasy was decided by the special constitutional...

The long-awaited IPO of UzAuto Motors was rescheduled to February 2023 due to low interest in the company’s stocks. The Kursiv edition took a look at which factors prevented the IPO from happening and reviewed the key trends in the stock market in Uzbekistan in 2022.

When one percent is enough

It was expected that UzAuto’s IPO will open the door for many other public offerings in the country. In August the government of Uzbekistan even published a list of companies that were going to go private. In order to raise the attractiveness of UzAuto Motors, its stock has...

Mikhail Lomtadze, CEO and co-founder of Kaspi has bought two million shares of the company from another stockholder Vyacheslav Kim. As a result, Lomtadze is the second largest stockholder after Baring Vostok, according to the company’s data from January 1, 2023.

According to KASE, Lomtadze’s share in Kaspi increased from 23.42% to 24.55%, while Kim’s share declined from 24.26% to 23.35%.

These changes followed the deal between the two major Kaspi stockholders on December 22, 2022. At the time, Lomtadze bought 1.94 million GDR of the company from Kim. Given the average price of $69.10 per common share, the total...

Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Alikhan Smailov has asked the Ministry of Justice to think what measures can be done to amend the Criminal Code and decrease the number of reasons for law enforcement to go after entrepreneurs.

«We have to revise the Criminal Code in order to lift all excessive and unjustified prescriptions that can be used as a reason for launching criminal cases against businesses. The Ministry of Justice has already received an order to strengthen work in this direction and execute a comprehensive approach to the issue,» Smailov said during the cabinet’s meeting devoted to the economic policy.

Nursultan Nazarbayev, the first president of Kazakhstan, has lost the title of «Honorary Senator,» according to Maulen Ashimbayev, the speaker of the Senate.

«Until recently only one person possessed the title of Honorary Senator in our country. Now nobody can acquire this title because it is no longer in our legislation. Let me clarify, we have changed the Senate’s regulations. We reviewed this rule and deleted it. In fact, we have never had a legal base for this practice,» Ashimbayev said after the plenary session of the chamber.

The official also highlighted that the people of Kazakhstan decided to renounce...

The leading independent provider of energy and commodity price benchmarks Argus is going to host the Argus Oil Products 2023. Caspian and Central Asia Markets International conference. The event will be held on March 16-17 in Dubai, UAE.

It is expected that the conference will bring together top managers from the largest international oil, trade and transport-logistic companies. The key goal of the event is to discuss the main development trends in oil and products markets in Caspian, central Asian and Middle Eastern countries.

Among the issues that will be discussed during the conference are the...

Kazakhtelecom has disbanded its subsidiary Khan Tengri Holding through which it owned Kazakhstani mobile operators Tele2 and Altel, according to KASE.

The company is no longer the owner of Khan Tengri Holding B.V. The decision to voluntarily liquidate the subsidiary was made in October 2022.

Khan Tengri Holding was established in 2016 in the Netherlands as a joint venture with Swedish Tele2 Group. Initially, Kazakhstelecom owned just 51% of the company’s shares. However, in May 2019 the operator acquired the remaining 49% of the stock from Tele2 Group.

After the deal, Kuanyshbek Yessekeev, CEO of Kazakhtelecom, described the consolidation of...

In 2022, the total amount of oil produced in Kazakhstan was 84.2 million tons which is slightly less than the previous year (85.7 million tons), according to Bolat Akchulako, minister of energy of Kazakhstan.

«Last year we produced 84.2 million tons of oil and condensate or 101.6% over the 2022 plan… In 2022, the oil export reached 64.3 million tons or 103% over the 2022 plan,» he said.

For example, oil producers extracted 29.2 million tons of oil or 100% over the 2022 plan at the Tengiz oil field; 11.3 million tons (103.8% over the plan) at the Karachaganak oil...

Kazakhstan and Russia are negotiating cooperation in the sphere of gas production, although the announced gas union of Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan is just an idea, said Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov.

«So far, we haven’t received an official proposal concerning the tripartite gas union. We are going to consider such a proposal as long as we receive it. However, we have already started negotiations with Russia concerning gas supply,» he said to journalists.

The prime minister noted that Kazakhstan is preparing for the next round of talks with Gazprom. «These bilateral discussions are continuing. We are going to put these...

This year, the inflation rate in Kazakhstan should be reduced by half from 20.3% to 9.5%, according to Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov.

«We have a task. We need the inflation rate to decline by half this year. The rate should be about 9.5%. This is not an easy task, that’s why we have to coordinate and act smoothly,» he said.

According to the official, the key driver of the inflation rate is food prices. Thus, in December last year, food prices showed a 1.6% growth as compared to November 2022.

«This is a sign that authorized agencies and local administrations...