News

The National Bank of Kazakhstan has announced the launch of the digital tenge (DT). Binur Zhalenov, head of the Kazakhstan Interbank Settlement Center (KISC) told Kursiv how the digital currency is going to work.

«When we were working on the DT we tried to forget about certain technologies and just think about what basic criteria and principles the new payment facility should meet in the context of the digital economy. We believe that payments must be instant. Of course, reliability, accessibility and soundness of funds belonging to regular people and businesses are also key requirements. Digital...

Law enforcement agencies of Kazakhstan have opened two new criminal cases against Karim Massimov, ex-chair of the National Security Committee (KNB), who is already in jail for treason. He is currently accused of money laundering and bribe-taking, according to KNB.

What kind of criminal cases were opened? According to MIA Kazinform, there are two new criminal cases against Masimov.

One case relates to the legalization and laundering of money and other possessions obtained illegally (article 218 of the Criminal Code of Kazakhstan) and huge bribe-taking (article 366).

KNB has already conducted “investigative actions” with Massimov after getting consent from the...

Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov has ordered the cabinet to accelerate the preparation process for the construction of a one-gigawatt wind station, a joint project with Saudi Arabia that is expected to start in 2025.

«We have already negotiated the construction of a big wind power station with a capacity of one gigawatt in the Jetisu region. The preparation process is currently underway. Once the final agreement is signed, construction will start. It is expected to happen in 2025. The prime minister has ordered the cabinet to accelerate administrative procedures and negotiate all necessary issues with authorized...

According to National Economy Minister Alibek Kuantyrov, Kazakhstan’s GDP will grow by 5% this year. The official made this statement during a meeting with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in Astana.

«The minister reported to the president that the national GDP is expected to grow by 5% at the end of 2023. Over the first six months of this year, the amount of foreign direct investments reached $13.3 billion,» the ministry said in a statement.

Annual inflation lowered more than two times from 21.8% in February to 10.8% in October. At the same time, the share of...

According to analysts of the Association of Financiers of Kazakhstan (AFK), the tempo of issuing mortgage loans has dropped from 28.8% to 9.9%, which has a negative impact on customer lending as Kazakhstanis are showing less appetite for loans. Over the period from January to September 2023, the country’s banks issued $33.4 billion worth of household loans.

«As the 2022 financial stability report showed, more than half of those who have taken a mortgage loan also take a customer loan within the next three months,» the analysts said in a survey of the banking sector of...

Freedom Holding Corp. has increased its quarter profit by 4.2 times, according to a report published on the website of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In the second quarter of the 2024 fiscal year (from July to September 2023), the company reported $115.5 million in net profit compared to $27.2 million over the same period last year.

Over the reported period, Freedom increased its revenue by 2.4 times to $435.6 million or by 4.3 times to $1.97 per share. The company’s business in Central Asia accounted for $387.2 million in revenue, including $167 million from Freedom Bank...

National Economy Minister Alibek Kuantyrov has revealed details of the unified comprehensive program for small and medium-sized businesses. As the official noted, the government plans to cut subsidies and provide more guarantees to entrepreneurs instead.

During a meeting with members of the country’s cabinet, Maulen Ashimbayev, speaker of the Senate, the upper house of the national parliament, said that medium-sized businesses are almost stagnated. He cited data showing that medium-sized businesses account for just 6% of the national GDP. This figure hasn’t changed since 2019. Moreover, about a third of the sector participants reported losses in the first half of...

The international rating agency S&P held a conference in Almaty and shared its vision for the future of the banking sector in Kazakhstan. According to Sergey Voronenko, senior analyst in the agency, despite uncertainty credit entities in Kazakhstan are still profitable and are even claiming record-high profit.

«This year is going to be a profitable year in terms of the volume of gains. We are expecting that the return on equity capital here will be about 25% to 30% on average, which is much higher than in other developing economies,» Voronenko said.

In turn, interest...

The vast majority of market participants (65%) interviewed by the Association of Financiers of Kazakhstan (AFK) expect the National Bank to cut the base rate at its next meeting on November 24. Last month, the regulator said that further easing of the monetary policy would be possible only if annual inflation was lower than 10%. (It was 10.8% in October.)

Representatives of banks, insurance companies, brokerage and analytical organizations were among those who spoke to the AFK. The association wanted to know what short-term and long-term expectations the experts have on the Brent crude oil price, the exchange rate of...

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Rosatom, the nuclear company in Russia, is ready to build an advanced nuclear power plant in Kazakhstan that would meet all safety rules.

What happened? Short before his official visit to Astana President Putin shared his vision of Russo-Kazakhstani relations in an interview with the Kazakhstanskaya Pravda newspaper. In particular, he talked about the possible construction of a nuclear power plant in Kazakhstan.

«As we all know, the government of Kazakhstan is weighing the possible construction of a nuclear power plant in its territory. If their decision is positive, the...

Freedom Holding Corp. has rejected the deal with Maxim Group, an American investment group, according to the company’s statement on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) website.

«The company and the sellers agreed that the deal arranged in February 2023 can’t be fulfilled by December 31, 2023. In this regard, on October 31, both the company and the sellers decided to terminate the purchase agreement by mutual consent of the parties,» the company said in a statement on the SEC website.

In February 2023, Freedom announced that it would acquire Maxim Group and its...

According to Kazakhstan’s Energy Minister Almasadam Satkaliyev, the country is considering a plan to replace coal stations with small modular reactors as Kazakhstan has joined the U.S. Foundational Infrastructure for Responsible Use of Small Modular Reactor Technology (FIRST) Program.

What are the small modular reactors (SMRs)

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, SMRs are nuclear reactors generally 300 megawatts equivalent or less, designed with modular technology using module factory fabrication, pursuing economies of series production and short construction times.

SMRs are several times smaller than traditional nuclear reactors. Since they are modular, they can be assembled at a plant...

More than $3.2 billion will be allocated for the implementation of the Accessible Internet national project by 2027, according to a resolution signed by Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov.

How much does the project cost? According to the press service of the prime minister, the vast part of the total investments into the project ($3.2 billion) will be private money ($2.7 billion).

What is the goal of the project? The government wants the entire country’s population to have access to broadband internet with a connection speed of at least 100 megabits per second. The project is expected to be completed within...

According to the Ministry of Culture and Information of Kazakhstan, the website of the second-largest global crypto exchange Coinbase has been blocked in the country due to violation of its national legislation.

«The Committee of Information under the Ministry of Culture and Information received a request from the Ministry of Digital Development, Innovations and Aerospace Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan asking to block www.coinbase.com for violation of article 11, item 5 of the law on digital assets,» the ministry said in a statement.

Article 11, item 5 of the law on digital assets says...

The Financial Monitoring Agency initiated legal actions against the organizer of the Astana representative office of Chia Tai Tianqing Pharmaceutical, a Ponzi scheme.

What happened? The Financial Monitoring Agency has arrested the head of the Chia Tai Tianqing Pharmaceutical representative office in Astana as it turned out to be a Ponzi scheme.

How did the financial pyramid work? The perpetrators pretended to be entrepreneurs engaged in the production and export of pharmaceutical products and medical equipment in China. As a result, more than 100 residents of Astana put $360,883 into this financial pyramid.

«People were offered to invest money in...

According to Chair Timur Suleimenov of the National Bank of Kazakhstan, the country’s government will tighten the terms of state support to banks to make it available to only systemically important financial entities.

«When the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank conducted the Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) of Kazakhstan in 2022-2023, they made several recommendations to the country’s government related to tightening control over the public funds: use public funds only to support the systemically important banks; use public funds only after the distribution of losses between shareholders and creditors through mandatory restructuring; and...

According to the Ministry of Energy of Kazakhstan, the country will increase the coverage of oil turnover in its information accounting system from 94.8% as of today to 100% next year.

«So far, 94.8% of oil turnover is digitally recorded. Now, we are planning to connect to the system of each subsoil user and increase the level of digitalization of the turnover of oil to 100% with gas fields to be connected to the system starting from 2024,» the ministry said in a statement.

Kazakhstan launched its information system for oil and gas condensate accounting...

The National Bank has developed new rules for issuing payment cards and conducting corresponding transactions on them. The key novelty is the requirement for banks to warn their customers about potential risks of fraud. Even though the draft document is available for public consideration, it is expected to enter into force on January 1, 2024.

The National Bank has divided possible risks associated with payments into two categories: the first includes those associated with fraudulent actions of third parties, and the second is associated with transfers under the influence or at the request of third parties pretending to be public...

According to President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Kazakhstan will send $1 million worth of humanitarian aid to the people of Palestine.

During the summit of the Organization of Turkic States, President Tokayev said that it is necessary to increase the role of mediation because «the situation has gotten worse» around the Turkic countries.

«The conflict between Russia and Ukraine is still going on in the North, in the Middle East we see the same between Israel and Palestine. Instability continues in Afghanistan. The problem of illegal migration is getting worse in the West,» he said.

How is...

According to the press service of the SPB Exchange, a Russian exchange that has been targeted by U.S. sanctions, it will exit the list of shareholders of the ITS Exchange in Astana, Kazakhstan.

«We kept in mind that the U.S. could impose sanctions against the SPB Exchange, a minority shareholder of ITS. The algorithm of actions in this scenario was part of the ITS charter. This means that any sanctioned shareholder should quit the capital of ITS,» the company said in a statement.

On November 2, the U.S. government introduced blocking sanctions against the SPB...

According to Timur Suleymenov, head of the National Bank, the government must prevent further lowering of the base rate in the near future.

As the official noted, the tough monetary policy of the National Bank over the past nine months was justified and helped to slow down inflation. This trend has been reported since March 2023. However, further lowering of the base rate isn’t a good idea, according to the chair of the regulator.

«Why do we believe that a 16% rate is absolutely necessary and that it wouldn’t be a good idea to cut it...

Uzbekistan has banned wearing burqas in public and promoting polygamy. President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has signed the document into law.

Why has the country imposed the new law? The country’s president has signed a law that prohibits wearing burqas in public. According to the Ministry of Justice of Uzbekistan, the move is aimed at maintaining public order. For example, this is necessary for the correct work of a new information security system called Safe City.

From now on any person wearing clothes that conceal his or her face and prevent the person’s identity from being disclosed will be charged with...

S&P Global Ratings has affirmed the long-term credit rating of Freedom Holding at B-, as well as the long-term and short-term credit ratings of its subsidiaries: Freedom Finance, Freedom Finance Europe, Freedom Finance Global and Freedom Bank at B/B. Freedom Bank’s national ratings are affirmed at kzBB+. In addition, the holding and its core subsidiaries are no longer in CreditWatch Negative, where they had been since the end of August 2023.

“Our ratings on Freedom Holding Corp. and its core subsidiaries balance the group’s strengths as a growing, increasingly diversified, and profitable financial services entity with...

According to Timur Suleymenov, head of the National Bank, the regulator is going to invest assets of the Unified Accumulative Pension Fund (UAPF), which is under the control of the National Bank, in long-term bonds issued by commercial banks.

As the official noted, Kazakhstani banks need stable sources of funding in order to provide financial resources for long-running projects. UAPF funds might be one of these sources.

However, in order to obtain pension money a credit organization must meet certain requirements of financial stability. No details were provided though. It’s also unclear whether the regulator will require an additional buffer...