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In September and October, international development institutions in Central Asia changed their outlook toward economic growth in Kazakhstan to a more positive one. Among these institutions are the World Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Eurasian Development Bank (EDB), Asian Development Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF).

In early October, the World Bank published its regular report on Europe and Central Asia where it assumed that Kazakhstan’s GDP growth is going to slow down to 3% this year, not 2% as previously predicted (the rate was 4.1% in 2021). There are several reasons for this decrease including a...

Unbreakable Brotherhood 2022, a command and staff exercise program scheduled for October 10-14 in Balykchy, Kyrgyzstan has been canceled, according to the country’s Ministry of Defense. So far, the agency has not explained the move.

The drills were announced this summer. It was expected that all the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) member states, including Tajikistan, would take part in the event

However, after the military сlashes on the Kyrgyz-Tajik border, members of Zhogorku Kenesh, Kyrgyzstan’s national parliament as well as residents of the border area demanded the Kyrgyz government ban Tajik military personnel from taking part in the military...

The first supermarket under the SPAR name opened in Almaty. The international company that runs a network of supermarkets in various countries is partnering with the local company SKIF TRADE (owner of the Small and Skif brands). The new site in Almaty is Eurospar, a type of supermarket for family shopping with 1,000 to 3,000 square meters of floor space. The new shop in Almaty is 2,400 square meters.

There are four types of SPAR supermarkets: Spar, Eurospar, Interspar and Spar Express. Spar is the most popular type of supermarket with 300 to 1,000 square meters of floor space. These...

Kazakhstan’s political parties have united into the people’s coalition to support the candidacy of Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the acting president of the country.

«Today we have made a strategic choice and now we shall unite behind Kassym-Jomart Tokayev as we all pursue the same goal. Of course, many other political parties also propose Tokayev as a candidate. That is why we have united with these parties and agreed to establish the people’s coalition in support of Tokayev,» said Erlan Koshanov, head of the Amanat political party during the 24th urgent congress of the party.

Today, on October 6, President Tokayev must...

Petr Vrublevskiy, Ambassador of Ukraine to Kazakhstan, is no longer welcomed after a scandal with his provocative interview, according to Aybek Smadiyarov, official spokesperson of Kazakhstan’s Foreign Ministry.

Currently, the agency is considering a new candidate for the position that Ukraine has already proposed.

«I’d like to note that we and our Ukrainian counterparts have a similar understanding of this issue. The current ambassador now is no longer welcomed in Kazakhstan and no other meetings or discussions are planned,» Smadiyarov said.

He also commented on the statement by Maria Zakharova, the official spokeswoman of the Russian MFA, who said that...

The old era of oligarchic capitalism in Kazakhstan is dead, long live the new era of social responsibility, according to President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. During his official visit to the Karaganda region, he talked about these changes in the country’s approach toward businesses operating within its territory.

He also noted that the government is keeping an eye on all large commodity companies operating in the country as people want big businesses in Kazakhstan to be highly efficient and socially responsible.

«We are going to do everything needed to prevent capital from being illegally withdrawn from our country. We are also keeping...

There were no big changes in the labor market in the third quarter in Kazakhstan. However, the number of vacancies over the period from July to September decreased by 2.5% (351,000) compared to the same period last year. The Kursiv edition decided to learn what this statistical data means.

According to Enbek.kz, among industries with few vacancies are the trade and warehouse industry (negative 32%), transportation and logistics (-13%), and the food and hospitality industry (-17%). Also, there were fewer vacancies in the sphere of marketing and media. The number of vacant jobs in this sector dropped from 15,900 to...

On October 3, the Uzbek Republican Currency Exchange (UZCE) presented the launch of trading with US dollar futures linked to the national currency (Uzbek som). 

«We spent two years on the development of the new tool. It was ready by this June and until recently we had tested the tool in conjunction with 13 commercial banks. Later, we are going to launch similar futures linked to other foreign currencies,» said Sirojiddin Baymetov, a senior broker in the UZCE.

He also noted that the presentation of the tool is symbolic because there were no such hedging products in Uzbekistan before. With...

As the press service of Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Trade and Integration reported, the Kazakhstan Paramount Engineering company has designed and produced a new wheeled armored vehicle Alan 2, which is under testing before being produced on a mass scale. 

According to Mukhtar Almukhanov, technical director of the company, the vehicle must be compatible with electronic equipment, so the company’s engineers are trying to identify potential sources of noise that might prevent electronics from working properly. This is necessary to certify the vehicle before offering it to customers in other EEU member states and abroad.  

Kazakhstan Paramount Engineering is the biggest...

The world’s biggest crypto exchange Binance and the Agency for Financial Monitoring of Kazakhstan are going to share data about crypto assets.

The two sides have signed a memorandum on cooperation in the sphere of cryptocurrency circulation and agreed to share information necessary for identification and to block any virtual asset gained illegally, according to the agency’s press service.

«This memorandum is going to be a solid foundation for the procedure of freezing crypto assets criminally obtained from Kazakhstan and their seizure by the country’s government,» the agency said.

In August, the Astana Financial Services Authority granted Binance its in-principle...

During his official visit to the Abai region, Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev touched on the risk of nuclear war. He said that the current geopolitical tensions have almost reached their peak, very dangerous situation for the whole world.

The president reminded the audience that even though it has been 33 years since the last nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk nuclear test, locals still suffer from the consequences of those explosions during the Cold War.

«Nuclear energy is a great achievement for humankind that must facilitate the welfare of people and countries. This kind of energy mustn’t be a tool to...

Uzbekistan has ramped up its gold reserves by 19 tons since January 2022. This is ranked fifth among all other countries, according to Gold.org.

«This means that net purchases of gold reached 19 tons since the beginning of the year. Now, the total gold reserves of Uzbekistan is about 381 tons,» the report said.

Among other countries that have shown fasterst rates of purchasing gold are Turkey, Egypt, Iraq and India. 

Turkey is the biggest buyer of gold this year. Since January this country has bought 84 tons of precious metal. The current volume of Turkish gold reserves is...

According to Bagdat Musin, minister of digital development, innovations and the aerospace industry, regular consumers should drop their digital signatures and use QR eGov Mobile.

During the Digital Bridge 2022 international conference, Musin said that he was never happy with digital signatures because every person who wanted to receive that digital signature was supposed to visit a Public Service Center in person.

«As a digital minister, I wanted to make a difference. I appreciate my team that realized this task and now our QR codes are so common. Wherever you need to approve a document or action you can use...

The United States acknowledges the progress Uzbekistan has achieved in the fight against child labor, the Dunyo Information Agency reported.

For the first time since 2011, the U.S. TDA Report has mentioned Uzbekistan as a country that achieved «significant progress» in this field. Before that, the country was on the list of countries that close their eyes to the problem of child labor. The first serious changes in the country’s attitude towards the issue were noticed by the U.S. Department of Labor in 2018.

The agency has also removed Uzbek cotton from the List of Goods Produced by Child Labor...

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has revised its forecast for the economic growth in Central Asia to be more positive. In 2022 the GDP of five Central Asian states is going to increase by 4.3% and by a further 4.8% in 2023, according to the Regional Economic Prospects review.

In this document, the bank highlighted that almost all Central Asian economies demonstrate quite high levels of resilience to the rising geopolitical tensions.  

The EBRD increased its forecast for Uzbekistan by 1.5%. It is expected that this and next year Uzbekistan’s GDP will reach 5.5% and 6.5% respectively...

According to analysts from the OLX company, the number of search queries using the word “apartment” has sharply increased accross the country’s Northern regions.

For instance, this rate increased by 40% in Astana, 25% in Pavlodar, 50% in Aktobe and 80% in Petropavlovsk. The interest in renting apartments rose twofold in Almaty and Uralsk, 2.5fold in Ust-Kamenogorsk, and threefold in Kostanay.

At the same time, not all apartment owners are rushing to take advantage of this growing demand. The number of “for lease” ads increased in towns such as Uralsk and Kostanay (by 40%), and Petropavlovsk and Aktobe (30%). However...

Kazakhstan is going to borrow €345.7 million from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. This money will be allocated toward the development of the private sector and the sustainable rebounding of the national economy. The lower house of the parliament Mazhilis has already begun examining the draft law on ratification of the agreement between Kazakhstan and the international entity.

«We are going to borrow €345.7 million from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. We need this money to cover the budget deficit and stabilize the social and economic situation in the country,» said Marat Kusainov, head of the...

Kaznet, Kazakhstan’s segment of the World Wide Web, has been suffering from massive cyber attacks for the past several days, according to the State Technical Service of Kazakhstan.

The main targets for the attacks are public agencies and Kaznet infrastructure. As a result of deliberate hostile efforts, the country’s internet may be unstable.

«The State Technical Service believes that these ongoing cyber-attacks are linked to all those events that are happening in our country and the world,» the agency said in a statement.

On September 24, Kazakhtelecom reported a massive DDOS attack on several Kazakhstani websites. All these attacks were...

According to Kazakhstan’s legislation, the country should extradite those Russians who are wanted by their authorities due to criminal charges. Mobilization in Russia can’t be used as a legal justification for that move though, said Kazakhstan’s Interior Minister Marat Akhmetzhanov.

«The question is not about mobilization; I am not talking about that. I am talking about criminal charges when somebody is accused of wrongdoing and has been put on the international wanted list. When Russian military drafting centers are looking for someone, this is not a solid base for extradition,» he said at the media briefing.

The official also noted...

Two self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (the international community, including Kazakhstan, doesn’t recognize either), as well as the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine, have reported so-called referendums about joining Russia. According to Aibek Smadiyarov, official spokesperson of Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the country continues to stand for the principle of territorial integrity and sovereignty of all states.

«Our president often spoke about the topic, including the speeches in the U.N. He always highlighted the importance of compliance with the international law which is the Charter of the United Nations. The charter says that all member states of...

Over the first seven months this year, Kazakhstan’s exports to Italy grew twofold ($8.7 billion) over the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Industry and Infrastructural Development of Kazakhstan.

At the same time, the country increased its imports from Italy. Throughout the affected period the rate rose by 9.7%.

The general turnover between Kazakhstan and Italy over the period under review reached $9.2 billion, the ministry said.

However, the potential for mutual trade isn’t deployed fully, according to Marat Karabayev, a vice minister of industry and infrastructural development of Kazakhstan, who discussed all these issues with the...

Four Kazakhstani commercial banks have confirmed to the Kursiv edition that they still accept Mir cards for payments or cash-out transactions. However, no bank issues this type of payment card in Kazakhstan.

On September 19, two of five Turkish commercial banks that worked with the Russian national payment system Mir said that they stopped accepting these cards. According to media reports, the reason these two Turkish banks decided not to cooperate with Mir is the risk of secondary sanctions. For instance, Financial Times reported that the U.S. government had pushed Turkish banks to persuade them to stop working with the...

The number of Russian companies in Kazakhstan has grown by 35%. Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan reported the same trend.

The point of attraction

The number of Russian businesses in Kazakhstan has been increasing by 500-800 entities per month since March 2022. In August, Kazakhstani authorities reported a peak of 1,100 Russian companies relocated that month. As of September 2022, there were 15,400 companies with Russian capital in Kazakhstan. This number is 4,000 companies higher than January 2022.

Russian companies represent almost all economic sectors except construction and finances. The data shows that Russian businesses are choosing trade, consulting and...

On September 21, Kazakhstan’s President Kasym-Jomart Tokayev signed an edict that set early presidential elections on November 20, according to the president’s press service.

According to Tokayev, the snap elections will allow the country to reset the entire political system of the country.

«This will allow us to focus on finding effective solutions for long-term tasks to achieve sustainable economic growth and improve the welfare and quality of life of our citizens. In my last national address, I announced a set of vast social and economic measures that must be realized soon,» he said.

The president noted that he is...