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In 2021 the volume of electronic transactions in Kazakhstan was increasing from month to month. It dropped only once in November when the volume of electronic transactions decreased to $162.9 billion. This is not a coincidence for sure as the new amendments to Kazakhstan’s Tax Code were adopted exactly that month. The amendments have been aimed at regularizing revenues Kazakhstan’s entrepreneurs receive as more and more customers prefer to pay online through mobile apps. The authorities have introduced the notion of mobile payment and made it mandatory for entrepreneurs and companies to accept payments to an official account approved by...

Last Sunday about 500 people with placards and photographs of those who were killed during the January events gathered in Almaty on the square in front of the city’s administration to commemorate victims of the January events.

Throughout the two-hour rally, people called the authorities to set free any illegally detained in January. They have also called the government to stop torture and provide a transparent and fair investigation into the events. The rally participants laid a floral wreath on the Monument of Independence and prayed for those who died here in January.

Police officers were vigilant and stayed nearby...

Citizens of Kazakhstan will be obliged to register all pets they own starting September 1, 2023, according to Aliya Shalabekova, vice-minister of ecology, geology and natural resources.

As the official noted, the agency is going to prepare a detailed procedure for the mandatory registration. Since pet owners are supposed to pay for the procedure, the government is going to reimburse payments for those who are considered a vulnerable population.

The new legislation is aimed at a total ban on dogs walking off-leash. The authorities also want to fight the problem of stray animals. In some cases, they want to trap...

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev met with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. At the meeting, the president said that Kazakhstan wants nuclear energy to contribute to the country’s economy. He’s also revealed that Russian technical universities are going to establish their subsidiaries in Kazakhstan, according to the press service of the Russian government.

Tokayev has expressed his gratitude to the Russian side for the decision to open branch offices of prominent Russian technical universities in Kazakhstan. Tech education plays a huge role nowadays, the president noted.

We have already signed an agreement on nuclear energy staff training. This is...

The Ministry of National Economy of Kazakhstan has initiated a public discussion of new legislation aimed at introducing a total ban on private companies substituting the economic functions of the state. In total, there are more than 50 such companies in the country.

The concept presented to the public doesn’t include any specific amendments to the current legislation but it provides an overall vision of the problem and suggests solutions. Concerning monopolies, the document by the ministry says that because so many private companies have possessed exclusive rights on the market, this system has produced excessive chains of agents.

On February 11, the Bank of Russia raised the key rate by 1 p.p. to 9.5% as the inflations rate has surpassed the October forecast, the regulator said.

As the Russian central bank noted, the high level of economic activity with no additional labor force has increased the inflationary pressure. Moreover, the situation in the international markets is still uncertain and the inflation expectations have stuck to multiyear highs. In this situation, the balance of risks scoots aside inflation. In turn, the Bank of Russia has been conducting a monetary policy aimed at getting the inflation rate back to 4%.

As the official reported, this year the CSTO member states are going to hold special drills on reconnaissance, dubbed Poisk-2022, as well as exercise on material and technical support of the CSTO troops, called Echelon-2022.

Also this year, the CSTO’s Collective Rapid Deployment Forces will hold a drill called Rubezh-2022 in Tajikistan where they are going to train how to fight against international terrorist groups.

In Kyrgyzstan, the CSTO is planning to deploy peacekeeping units to hold a drill called Unbreakable Brotherhood-2022. The drill must be devoted to the task of post-conflict settlement in a crisis zone.

There are six...

Mazhilis deputies have adopted a draft law on improving career patterns for Kazakhstan’s law enforcement agencies at the first reading.

Hence, applicants who are going to join local law enforcement services have to take part in a contest. In some cases, heads of regional police departments can hire an applicant out of the competition. However, all applicants should complete an internship before entering duty. 

The draft law suggests canceling that internship for those employees who are appointed to senior positions through a contest. According to Aset Chindaliyev, deputy Attorney General of the country, it is common practice to promote to...

Kazakhstan is going to embrace legislative regulation of mining companies by establishing a system of licensing the industry. The prime minister has already given that order to the government, according to the official website primeminister.kz.

As Smailov noted, this move is aimed at preventing electricity shortage from further increasing and bringing the digital mining industry in from the cold.

In 2021, KAZ Minerals Group produced 299,000 tons of copper which is 2.3% less than in 2020 when the company produced 306,000 tons of that metal. As the company reported, in 2021 it was able to go beyond the target production level of 275-295,000 tons.

Last year the company’s output of gold decreased by 17.3% to 167,000 ounces while in 2020 KAZ Minerals produced 196,000 ounces. According to the company’s report, the 2021 year’s result meets the target of 160-180,000 ounces.

The company has beefed up the production of silver from 3.37 thousand ounces to 3.41 thousand ounces. The zinc...

As the Vice Minister of Finance Marat Sultangaziyev noted, bankrupt people would be able to travel abroad if they need medical assistance or they have to accompany their relatives on a trip for medical treatment abroad or to attend a relative’s funeral. If a person is determined bankrupt, he won’t be able to repeat this procedure until the seven-year period is over.

The official noted that more than one million people in Kazakhstan have lapsed on loans and may reestablish their solvency or declare bankruptcy. For example, if a debtor has a steady income and his loan issuer doesn’t object...

According to Alibek Abdilov, an official spokesperson in the Kazakhstan Halkyna fund, there are several key priorities for the entity such as supporting families that have adopted disabled babies, children with diseases or behavioral problems.

Another focus of the fund is supporting families of law enforcement officers and military personnel who have died or have been wounded while on duty to protect the territorial integrity and the national security of the country.

The fund recognizes that many people in Kazakhstan may face various problems including financial difficulties. However, the entity is not able to solve all of...

Any foreigner with an investor visa will be able to work in the country with no limitations as long as his or her visa is valid.

According to internal rules of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, an investor visa might be issued for five years or less if a person’s passport is expiring earlier in that period.

To obtain this kind of visa an applicant has to possess an investment agreement with any of Kazakhstan’s authorized bodies, to be part of an ongoing investment project in key sectors of the reprocessing industry or be a member of the...

The volume of investments to the capital stock of Kazakhstan’s real economy (mining industry is excluded) increased last year by 9.5%. Foreign direct investments rose almost 50% over the nine months of 2021 and reached $18.8 billion.

Over 11 months of the last year, the external turnover in Kazakhstan rose by 15.4% and reached $91.4 billion. The country increased the export of goods by 25% to $54.5 billion; the volume of imported goods increased by 4.2% to $37 billion.

This year Kazakhstan has to reach a GDP growth of not less than 4% to guarantee the steady growth of the...

As the ministry informed, some local media sources reported collective appeals to the government by workers of service companies such as Burgylau, West Oil Software, Caspian Food and Buzachi Trans Kurylys as they want the government to nationalize their companies.

However, the Ministry of Energy said that there is no plan to nationalize any service company. Moreover, the government wants to sell a range of state-owned and quasi-state companies. According to the privatization plan, Samruk Kazyna, the state-owned holding which controls dozens of other businesses run by the government, is going to sell 40 entities over 2021-2025.

President Tokayev brought up the topic of land during a meeting with members of the government.

As he noted the maximal size of land parcels in different regions has been approved by local legislative bodies (maslikhats) with no solid science-based justification: 98,000 hectares in the Atyrau region, 96,000 hectares in the Almaty region and 69,000 in the East Kazakhstan region.

«Meanwhile, the Ministry of Agriculture has developed a draft rule that allows possessing a land parcel up to 98,000 hectares. It seems to me as an attempt to nail down the situation when a handful of people...

As the official reported to the government, despite volatility on the markets the National Fund was able to get a yield of 4.2% ($2.3 billion) last year.

This year the National Bank is going to shift to a well-balanced strategy of assets allocation as well as introduce a new protective mechanism to minimize possible losses because of stock market fluctuations, said Pirmatov.

Last year the country’s gold reserves lost $1.3 billion and dropped to $34 billion in total. This decrease was driven by the withdrawal of about $1.2 billion of foreign currency to serve the state debt, support currency interventions...

During their meeting with the government, Satkaliyev said that the fund has already reduced the number of employees in its headquarters twofold: from 248 to 124 people. Moreover, the holding has reduced the number of executives to five positions and the number of subsidiaries from 27 to 18. As a result, Samruk-Kazyna reported $5 million worth of economic impact.

To save more money, the fund has recommended its companies to cut personnel in their headquarters twofold including employees (from 2,786 to 1,393), foreign specialists (from 47 to 24) and foreign members of the boards (from 23 to 14). It is...

According to Olzhas Kizatov, head of the banking control department in the Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market, last year the banking sector beefed up its loan portfolio by $46.7 billion (28%). The number of nonperforming loans decreased during the last year from 6.9% to 3.3% because of the write-off of bad corporate loans for $2 billion. 

Last year was very productive for the entire banking sector in Kazakhstan. The net revenue of banks increased by 78% and reached $3 billion. The deposit base increased by $10.4 billion (21%) and reached $60 billion last year, including...

The index of children’s well-being is necessary for proper assessment of children’s status in Kazakhstan’s society as well as to estimate the level of efficiency of the national policy in this sphere.

The index consists of four key components: Child, Family and Society, National policy and Well-being of the country. To gather the information needed for the index, the ministry is going to take data from open sources such as the Bureau of National Statistics, Ministry of Labor, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Ecology. Also, the index will include...

Even before Erbolat Dosaev enters the office of the Almaty mayor, some people have started to collect signs under the petition aimed at discharging Dosaev from the new position. They want the mayor to be elected through open and transparent elections.

As of February 4, there were about 30,000 signatures under the petition. However, according to Yuriy Masanov, a journalist from Kazakhstan the website where the petition has been uploaded raises some questions as it’s registered in Russia and almost anyone can click on a button to pretend the signature under the petition was made.

Former Almaty mayor Bakytzhan Sagintayev...

As the agency reported it is going to think about the possibility of the new tax.

For example, the government is keen to impose an additional tax on owners of luxury vehicles such as Aston Martin, Bentley, Ferrari, Lamborghini and Maserati. Any benefits for such cars must be excluded.

Among other luxury items are fancy jets, sailboats and real estate in big cities and popular resorts. All these things might face increasing taxes.

Niyazov was responsible for liquid gas supplies in the region. Now he is charged with abuse of power. In early January the meeting against liquid gas price increase was organized in the region. Right after the riots that broke out across the entire country, several top officials including the deputy energy minister and executives of electronic trading platforms have been arrested. They are charged with an unreasonable liquid gas price increase in the Mangystau region.

Once the winner is decided, he should deposit a guarantee fee of $1.9 million and then renovate all the airport’s equipment and facilities including its parking ramp.

The owner of the Shymkent airport’s shares is the Department of Finances of the city of Shymkent. The market value of the shares is the difference between assets ($14.3 million) and liabilities ($1.2 million). In 2021 the airport earned $7.8 million with 576,916 of net revenue. In October 2020, the airport’s owner had already tried to sell the asset. However, there were no applicants for the bidding even though the market value of...