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Air Astana has reached an agreement with Air Lease Corporation to lease seven Airbus A321neo LR aircraft. The delivery of the first aircraft is expected in 2026, the airline said in a statement.

Under the agreement, which was approved by the airline’s board of directors, the carrier will lease the aircraft for an unspecified period and will return them once the contract expires.

As Air Astana noted, it plans to obtain these seven aircraft within the framework of its broader strategy to expand its fleet to 80 planes by the end of 2028. Currently, the company operates 54 aircraft, a...

According to operational statistics from the National Bank, the amount of cross-border money transfers from Kazakhstan reached $147.3 million in June 2024, which is a 16.6% decrease compared to last year. Uzbekistan remains the leading destination, with a 39.3% share. In June, $60.4 million was sent to Uzbekistan, an 8% decrease compared to June 2023.

Among the other popular destinations for money transfers from Kazakhstan are Russia ($41.2 million or a 26.9% share), Turkey ($22.3 million or 14.5%), Georgia ($10.3 million or 6.7%) and Kyrgyzstan ($5.4 million or 3.6%).

The amount of money transfers dropped by 1.1% month-on-month. However, Uzbekistan’s...

Kazakhstani judoka Gusman Kyrgyzbayev won a bronze medal at the Olympic Games in Paris, bringing the third medal to Kazakhstan’s national team, according to the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Kazakhstan.

Kyrgyzbayev made it to the semifinal, where he lost to Willian Lima from Brazil. However, he still had a chance to fight for third place in the 66-kilogram weight category.

In this round, he competed against Strahinja Buncic from Serbia. The Kazakhstani athlete scored a point and won the match.

The first Dreamliner for a direct route from Kazakhstan to the U.S. is expected to be supplied to Kazakhstan by the end of 2025. This deadline was announced during a meeting between Minister of Digital Development, Innovations and Aerospace Industry Zhaslan Madiyev and representatives of Boeing.

According to the ministry’s press service, the purchase of the aircraft is aimed at strengthening Kazakhstan’s aircraft fleet and improving air travel in the country.

Boeing is the global leader in the sphere of aerospace technologies, producing aircraft for civil and defense purposes. With production facilities worldwide, Boeing reported $80 billion in revenue last...

According to the Ministry of Transportation of Kazakhstan, the country’s airports served more than 11 million passengers in the first six months of 2024, a 21.5% increase over the same period last year. Authorities believe that the growth is due to the rise of more international destinations.

«The civil aviation sector of Kazakhstan has been growing rapidly so far this year. Passenger traffic has risen by 15% compared to last summer, reaching 6.8 million. Kazakhstani airports served 11.3 million passengers, a 21.5% increase over the same period last year. Moreover, the domestic aircraft fleet has been...

According to the press service of Kazakhstan’s cabinet, Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov wants to assess the efficacy of governors’ work by evaluating the welfare of regular Kazakhstanis.

«The prime minister has instructed the cabinet to introduce KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) to evaluate the efficacy of governors’ work by assessing improvements in the real welfare of regular people,» the cabinet said in a statement.

To monitor and analyze positive changes for thousands of Kazakhstani families, authorities are going to use the Digital Family Map. They will track five categories, ranging from urgent and crisis levels to...

Freedom Holding Corp. has completed a cross-listing of its common shares on the Astana International Exchange (AIX), the stock exchange reported.

The company’s shares will be traded under the FRHC ticker, with USD as the primary currency for pricing and settlements related to the stock. Furthermore, the shares are fully interchangeable between the Nasdaq Capital Market and AIX, according to a statement from the platform.

Sergey Lukyanov, chair of the board of directors of Freedom Finance Global (a subsidiary of the holding), stated that the listing on AIX has opened access to new opportunities for the company’s clients and retail...

According to Alexander Khinshtein, chair of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Technologies and Communications, authorities will decrease YouTube load performance for desktop computers in Russia to 40% by the end of this week and 70% by the end of next week. The move won’t affect mobile internet users, though, the MP wrote on Telegram.

«This forced step is directed against the hosting platform, which wrongfully believes that it can violate our legislation with impunity, not against Russian users,» the MP said.

He also noted that authorities have deliberately chosen the summer season...

According to Vedomosti, a Russian business edition, some Chinese banks are no longer interested in accepting yuan linked with Russia. Some organizations have even started to divide them into «clean» and «dirty» categories if the money is somehow related to Russia.

As economist Andrey Barkhota explained, Chinese banks consider «dirty» any settlements in the ruble and yuan, as well as conversion transactions through sanctioned Russian financial institutions. For instance, one Chinese bank refused to accept yuan acquired at the sanctioned Moscow Exchange (MOEX), according to Maxim Chereshnev, a member of the Business Russia General Council. As the official explained, Chinese...

The Kazakhstani passport has been ranked 64th in the authoritative international ranking of passports by Henley & Partners, making it the strongest passport in Central Asia.

Henley & Partners is a British investment migration consultancy based in London. Its passport index is based on data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) – the largest and most accurate travel information database – and includes 199 passports and 227 tourist destinations.

The leader of the 2024 ranking is Singapore, with 195 visa-free destinations. Five countries – France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Spain – share the second position (192 destinations), while Austria...

The Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market (ARDFM) has changed the rules related to the appointment of executive managers in banks, banking holdings and branch offices with foreign capital. The document has also made it easier for foreigners to acquire Kazakhstani banks. The regulation has already been adopted and will enter into force soon, the regulator said on its official website.

On the other hand, any company with foreign executives on its board is now obliged to reveal data on those executives to prove their flawless reputation. This is a new requirement in the country’s legislation.

The...

According to Minister of Science and Higher Education of Kazakhstan, Sayasat Nurbek Kazakhstan will introduce new interest-free student loans. During a media briefing, he revealed that the government is launching several initiatives to expand access to higher education. For instance, in late 2024, the country will introduce interest-free student loans.

«Together with several commercial banks and our financial center, we have been working on this issue from a legal point of view. Once this process is completed, and it is already nearing completion, people will be able to take interest-free loans for higher education similar to...

According to Russian RBC, commercial banks in Central Asia are increasingly rejecting Russian companies in banking transactions.

In July 2024, the share of rejected payments through banks in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan reached 30%, says a survey prepared by Russian transportation companies – PEС, Digital VED, GTL and Logita Trade – and reviewed by RBC.

Furthermore, the average deadline for a transaction also grew by 15% compared to June, reaching two weeks. Big business associations in Russia have also confirmed this information to RBC.

Even though banks have not reveal the reason they won’t allow Russian companies to execute their...

Cove Capital, an American company searching for rare-earth elements and rare metals in Kazakhstan, has decided to expand its drilling program in the East Kazakhstan region due to the first promising results, according to Managing Partner Pini Althaus.

KAZ Critical Minerals, a subsidiary of American KAZ Resources (controlled by Cove Capital), has been exploring rare metals at the Gremyachinsky field in the Ulan district of the East Kazakhstan region. Even though Kazakhstani geologists reviewed the field in 2001-2003 to update the national geological map, they didn’t conduct a detailed geological exploration at the time.

«We have...

According to the Ministry of Ecology of Kazakhstan, a group of Chinese scientists has traveled to the Kyzylorda region to visit the Aral Sea area. In collaboration with Kazakhstani specialists, they plan to plant trees throughout the bottom of the former sea.

Scientists from the Xinjiang Institute of Geography and Ecology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences also met with Kazakhstan’s Ecology Minister Yerlan Nyssanbayev.

«During the meeting, the two sides discussed a set of issues related to tree planting on the bottom of the former Aral Sea to mitigate the negative consequences for the regional...

The Ministry of Healthcare of Kazakhstan is developing new mechanisms to improve control over medical services. Authentication using Face ID is one of several tools expected to be deployed. According to the agency, it came up with the idea after an influx of complaints about irrelevant records in patients’ mobile apps.

«More and more patients have recently reported records of medical services they had not received in their mobile apps. This false data not only causes economic damage but undermines the trust of society in the entire healthcare system. It is now obvious that the existing...

President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has refused to pardon Karim Massimov, former chair of the National Security Committee (KNB), Informburo.kz reported.

«After reviewing whether it was possible to apply the act of grace to Massimov, the pardon commission sent its recommendation to the president and he has agreed with that,» the media outlet reported.

In late June, the Commission on Pardon Issues Under the President of Kazakhstan recommended that the president reject Massimov’s petition for a pardon. At the time, MP Marat Bashimov, a member of the commission, noted that it was just a recommendation...

The founders of ten startups from Central Asia have gotten the opportunity to study in Silicon Valley under the AlchemistX Accelerator program. According to Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Digital Development, Innovations and Aerospace Industry, seven startups are from Kazakhstan.

Among the winning teams from Kazakhstan are the following:

Cybernet.ai is a scientific and research company engaged in AI and big language models. It creates B2B SaaS contact centers based on AI, where bots can’t be distinguished from humans; Parqour cuts capital and operational costs for parking fivefold worldwide with its AI solution that reads license plates, processes mobile payments and provides...

Astana Qazaqstan Team may become Chinese by 2025 now that the cycling team has signed an agreement with XDS Carbon-Tech, a prominent bicycle producer in China. According to some media outlets, the Astana Qazaqstan Team will probably be registered as a Chinese team in WorldTour.

As Cyclingnews pointed out, the Astana Qazaqstan Team finished the 111th edition of Tour de France with quite ambivalent results. On the one hand, the team was last in the team classification. On the other hand, it signed an engagement agreement with XDS Carbon-Tech, which may lead to the inflow of investments necessary to...

According to the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE), the Ministry of Finance obtained control over 12% of Kazatomprom shares as a result of an off-exchange deal between the National Bank and the state-owned Samruk-Kazyna fund, aiming at purchasing Kazatomprom shares using assets from the National Fund. (The National Bank is a managing entity for the National Fund.)

After the deal, the share controlled by Samruk-Kazyna dropped from 75% to 62.9%, while the sold 12% stake (31.1 million common shares and GDRs) was transferred to the Ministry of Finance of Kazakhstan.

As authorities explained, the purpose of the deal was to replenish...

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will invest $122.2 million in strengthening the power grid in southern Kazakhstan under an agreement with the Kazakhstan Electricity Grid Operating Company (KEGOC).

The project’s contractors have already begun developing a feasibility study. Once all the documents are approved, they will build two 500-kilowatt overhead power transmission lines that will stretch for 475 kilometers. Additionally, the Shu, Jambyl and Shymkent electrical substations are expected to be upgraded to boost the capacity of the power grid by 75%. This upgrade should eliminate overloading, reduce losses during energy transmission and increase the overall reliability of the...

Kazakhstanis will be able to buy and sell digital assets with the help of payment cards from KazPost. The company has been added to the list of entities allowed to offer these services alongside commercial banks, according to a press release from the Astana International Financial Center (AIFC).

«Using financial products and infrastructural solutions of KazPost, customers will be able to deposit fiat currency [money] into an account and withdraw it to work with digital assets. This year, we’re going to launch the first cooperation program that will let holders of KazPost cards use fiat money...

Member states of the Group of Seven (G7) are ready to invest up to $200 billion in infrastructural projects in Central Asia. According to Helaina Matza, acting special coordinator for the Partnership on Global Infrastructure Investment (PGI), a program of the U.S. Department of State, Kazakhstan is one of the key priorities for projects like these. She made this statement during a meeting with Kazakhstani diplomats.

The core goal of the program is to diversify supply chains to ensure food and energy security in the world.

Under the program, G7 member states (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K. and...

The Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market (ARDFM) has updated its data on the financial conditions of Kazakhstani banking conglomerates. In the initial version published on July 17, the agency reported that over the first quarter of the year, Kaspi.kz’s assets declined by 50.2% from $14 billion to $7 billion. In the updated version of the report, Kaspi.kz’s assets were estimated at $14.3 billion as of April 1.

The agency also corrected its data on Bank CenterCredit (BCC). In the first version of the report, BCC was the second-largest banking conglomerate with $13.9 billion, outperforming Kaspi.kz in...