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Last week the Kursiv editions wrote about the big deal on the Kazakhstani IT market now we know some details. Evgeny Chsherbinin, CEO of Prime Source, a Kazakhstani software development company and Peter B. Ritz, CEO of FatBrain AI, an American IT company, held a press briefing in Almaty (Mr. Ritz participated online). According to Mr. Ritz, once the company equities are bought from Prime Source owners, FatBrain will not change the management structure of the firm.

«When we are buying an equity from an owner we are going to help that company to grow and scale up its business...

The turnover of non-commodity goods in Kazakhstan over the period from January to May 2022 reached $25.3 billion. This is a 20.4% increase over the same period last year ($21.0 billion). At the same time, exports of non-commodity goods from Kazakhstan rose by 34.7% and reached $9.7 billion, according to the Ministry of Trade citing QazTrade.

As the ministry reported the increase in exports is based on non-commodity goods such as ferroalloys (61.1%), uranium (260%), copper and cathode copper (25.3%), flour (86%), unprocessed zinc, aluminum oxide and aluminum hydroxide (89.2%), sulfur except vaporized sulfur and sulfur colloid (350%).

Also, Kazakhstan...

Officials in Kazakhstan will no longer require hard copies of documents with blue stamps on them. The country has entered into a new era where digital documents and their hard copies possess the same power, according to the new law on the promotion of innovations, development of digitalization and information security signed by President Tokayev on July 15.

The new legislation prohibits any state agency from requiring hard copy documents if they can be downloaded from the public information system.

Also, the government has changed its approach to the servicing of the e-government. Now, it wants local IT companies to...

Almost two-thirds of the $5.2 billion loans the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has allocated for Central and West Asia were spent on the fighting against COVID-19. However, some funds were allocated for the development of urban and rural infrastructure, according to the bank’s report.

«As of today, the ADB has provided Uzbekistan with 228 loans, grants and technical support at a total value of $10.4 billion. The current portfolio of the ADB’s sovereign projects in Uzbekistan includes 34 loans and one grant for $4.91 billion,» said Cyndi Malvicini, head of the ADB representative office in Uzbekistan.

In 2021 the bank...

The deal, which is quite big for the local market, might be closed soon, as a person familiar with the question reported to the Kursiv edition. FatBrain AI, an American publicly traded software company, has completed negotiations with Prime Source, one of the key players in the domestic IT market. The Kursiv edition has already found documents in open sources that confirm this information.

Prime Source ranks as one of the top five Kazakhstani software developers. Also, the company is the largest independent player in the industry, according to Kursiv Research. Software developed by Prime Source is used, for example...

On July 14, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan ordered the government to take measures needed to facilitate big western companies to relocate to Kazakhstan from Russia.

As the president noted, all of us are witnesses of the global competition for investment capital.

«One in two from about 1,400 big foreign companies has suspended its business activities in Russia or even left that country. Kazakhstan’s government should do everything needed to make our country attractive for their relocation. This is going to be very helpful in creating new opportunities for the production of different value-added products,» he said.

Tokayev noted that...

Kazakhstan must produce phosphate and potassium fertilizers on its own. The country needs to decrease the amount of these products exported from some foreign countries, including Russia, according to President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

The president noted that local farmers have been trying to use fewer fertilizers than needed for years.

«These fertilizers are costly. Kazakhstan’s market desperately depends on imports and just a few local producers. Moreover, we’ve learned that some suppliers have ripped off our farmers. For example, a company called Kazphosphate used to sell a huge amount of fertilizers to affiliated company Kazchemical Trading House, which later charged clients...

Over the period from January to April 2022, Kazakhstani producers of macaroni products earned more than $24.5 million from the product exports. Their shipments abroad have risen by 18% while revenues increased by 30%, according to QazTrade, a public entity facilitating foreign trade in Kazakhstan.

The Bureau of National Statistics reported that during the first four months of the year, Kazakhstani companies produced about 56,200 tons of macaroni products. This is a 10% increase over the same period last year.

The vast majority of this volume (57%) has been consumed domestically, while the rest were exported abroad. Among the key...

Russia and Belarus may attempt to evade U.S. export control. For that purpose, they can use so-called transit countries, according to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS).

The BIS has identified countries that facilitate the transit of sanctioned goods as transshipment points. Among them are Armenia, Brazil, China, Georgia, India, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, Nicaragua, Serbia, Singapore, South Africa, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Turkey, the UAE and Uzbekistan.

«In some instances, controlled U.S. items may be legally exported to these and other jurisdictions as inputs for the production of other...

Galymzhan Pirmatov, head of the National Bank of Kazakhstan has explained the differences in the monetary policies between Russia and Kazakhstan. He said that in contrast to Russia, Kazakhstan doesn’t face the risk of recession anytime soon.

However, the official believes that amid the decline in business activities, demand and economic growth, the inflation pressure on the country continues to grow.

«Indeed, some experts compare the base rates in Kazakhstan and Russia. In February, the Bank of Russia raised the rate from 9.5% to 20%, even though later the regulator decreased the rate to 9.5% to keep the country’s economy...

According to Kassym Tlepov, head of the Transportation Committee under the Ministry of Industry and Infrastructural Development, Kazakhstan is going to enter into operation two additional bulk carriers on the Caspian Sea.

As the official noted, the potential of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR) hasn’t been used fully. However, the country has already built a ferry complex in the port of Aktau.

«We’ve taken a range of measures to extend the capacity of the existing port of Aktau. In particular, we have built three dry bulk terminals. As of today, this infrastructure has a capacity of 21 million tons...

The government of Uzbekistan wants to open an International Financial Center (IFC) in Tashkent and is now reviewing three types of such centers. The issue was publicly discussed at a conference organized by the Strategic Development Agency (SDA).

«The establishing of an IFC is one of the strategic goals for the development of Uzbekistan. This must be a global platform to attract new investments to the country and facilitate the management of capital equity. According to the World Bank’s statistics, the presence of an IFC may contribute about 1% to the country’s GDP,» said Aziz Gafurov, deputy head of the...

The court in Krasnodar, Russia, has canceled the previous decision to stop the operation of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), the Kommersant reported.

Now the company is obliged to pay a fee of $3,264.

On July 11, the Krasnodar district court reviewed an appeal by the CPC as the company has argued that the suspension of its operation would ruin the entire production cycle.

Earlier on July 5, the Primorsk district court in Novorossiysk suspended work of the CPC’s sea terminal in Novorossiysk for 30 days due to technical violations Roskomnadzor found there.

Right after that, the CPC lawyers sent...

Elena Rybakina, a Kazakhstani tennis player who won Wimbledon women’s singles, will get about $2.4 million as an award.

The total prize fund of the British tennis tournament is more than $48.5 million; $2.4 million was earned by the Kazakhstani tennis player.

Thanks to the win in Wimbledon, Rybakini has passed a $3 million threshold this season. In terms of her professional career, she has made more than $7 million in total.

During the final game of the British Grand Slam, Elena beat Ons Jabeur from Tunis in the two last sets in a row (3:6, 6:2, 6:2). The match...

In a letter to the district court of Novorossiysk, the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) has appealed to the court to suspend its decision regarding the CPC until the authorities consider the company’s complaint. On July 5, the court issued a rule that requires the CPC to stop all its activities.

«The administrative punishment through banning the company from working must be implemented immediately. However, the law prohibits taking any actions that can cause irreversible consequences for the production process,» the CPC said in the appeal.

As the consortium noted, the CPC is a nonstop operating enterprise; therefore, any suspension of...

Last week I had a conversation with Constantinos Herodotou, the head of the Central Bank of Cyprus and a member of the Boarding Council of the European Central Bank (ECB). Mr. Herodotou is one of the narrow circle of people who make decisions on the ECB’s rates. In the course of the conversation, we touched on the topic of interest rates and he made a very important remark all decision-makers in central banks all over the world should keep in mind. Like antibiotics or antidepressants, an interest rate is a tool that has a long-term effect. Any such rate has...

Last week Turkey arrested Kazakhstan’s ship dubbed Zhibek Zholy (Silk Road) that had been leased to Russia. According to Kairbek Uskenbayev, the minister of industry and infrastructural development of Kazakhstan, the country is going to dissolve the leasing contract if the ship was used for illegal activities.

The official noted that Turkish authorities are trying to find out the origins of the ship’s cargo, who was a freighter, and who sent the cargo. He also said that Kazakhstan is going to ask Turkey to provide the country with details of the case.

«They should finish all the legal work. So...

The National Managing Holding Baiterek is going to finish the acquisition of Kazakhstan’s subsidiary of Russia’s biggest bank Sber, according to Kanat Sharlapayev, head of the holding.

As he noted, he would prefer not to comment on any current deal of the holding on acquisition or merging.

«I can confirm that the negotiations with Sber are continuing, but I can’t reveal any details. We are doing our best to complete the deal as soon as possible, though,» he said.

In May 2022, Madina Abylkasymova, head of the Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market of the Republic of...

Oliy Majlis, the lower house of Uzbekistan’s parliament, has supported the decision to keep the sovereign status of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, according to the RIA Novosti news agency.

With one voice, deputies have supported the decision not to change articles 70,71,72,73,74 and 75 of the Uzbek Constitution (about Karakalpakstan).

On June 20, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev suggested organizing a referendum on amendments to the Constitution. It was supposed to discuss more than 200 amendments to 64 articles of the document. Part of these amendments suggested deleting the sovereign status of the Republic of Karakalpakstan which was approved by a referendum...

The Interagency Commission chaired by Vice Minister Eraly Tugzhanov has changed the COVID-19 rules for Kazakhstan’s regions that may have fallen into the moderate risk of COVID-19 yellow zone.

Among other participants of the meeting was Health Minister Azhar Giniyat, health minister, heads of state agencies, regional governors and representatives of the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs Atameken.

According to Giniyat, the country has reported a spike in new COVID-19 cases since June. For example, the health system reported 2.9 times more COVID cases this week than the previous week. It is worth noting that about 80% of those who have...

The Republic of Kazakhstan guarantees the protection of foreign investors’ interests and invites them to sign new investing contracts in the country, the Interfax Kazakhstan news agency reported citing Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov.

«The government invites foreign investors to sign investing contracts and take part in investment projects. We can guarantee that investors’ interests will be taken into account to the maximal reasonable extent. Given the uncertainty in the global economy, we are inviting all investors to put their money into Kazakhstan,» he said at Astana Finance Days 2022.

According to Smailov, the annual commodity circulation in Kazakhstan is about...

On June 27, the Development Bank of Kazakhstan (DBK) announced that it is inviting Kazakhstan’s exporting companies to take easy loans. In other words, the bank has money, a lot of money and it is ready to lend these financial resources with low interest.

In the aftermath of the January events, President Tokayev fired a salvo at the executives of the bank. In response, the DBK has implemented several measures to improve its business practices and increase transparency. For example, the bank now doesn’t participate in private-public partnership projects. Moreover, it’s opened its books on companies that have received easy...

In 2022, Kazakhstan’s citizens were more active than citizens of Germany and Afghanistan and bought 1,099 property units in Turkey, according to Turkish property registers.

Since January 2022, Kazakhstani citizens have shown a constantly growing interest in Turkish real estate. Thus, they bought 132 real estate units in January, 197 in February, 241 in March, and 311 in April. The data for May is slightly different: Kazakhstanis bought only 218 property units this month.

The trend is more impressive if we look at the yearly statistics. Over the period from January to May 2022, Kazakhstan’s citizens bought 76% more property...

The Senate, the upper house of Kazakhstan’s parliament has adopted a new law banning the advertising of any financial pyramids in the country.

The new law makes the penalty for the creation and advertising of Ponzi schemes much tougher. Now it’s not just about a financial penalty: those who violate the law may find themselves in jail.

«Financial pyramids are one of the biggest problems we must fight. We have to constantly improve our legislation in order to make it meet all the modern challenges. The new law deems the advertisement of any Ponzi scheme a crime and brings a...