News

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, residents of villages and small towns will be able to take 2.5% interest microloans starting next spring.

The new loan has a 2.5% interest rate and a maturity of seven years. It also requires collateral. Those who are eligible for the new loan will be able to borrow up to $16,500 or even $53,800 when it comes to the cooperation of a group of people. Currently, authorities in different regions must choose which companies will issue those loans to individuals. It is expected that people will be able to apply and take microloans at...

According to President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the government has to repair all thermal power stations (TPP) that belong to the state. On the other hand, private TPPs must be repaired at the expense of their owners.

«Private facilities must be updated at the expense of their owners under the tariff in exchange for an investment program. This is an urgent task for the cabinet because both TPPs and heating networks are in a bad shape,» the president said.

He also revealed that 1,500 kilometers of the heating network across the country have been worn out by 75% and need urgent replacement...

Uzbekistani Energy Minister Jurabek Mirzamahmudov stated that the country is going to buy gas from its neighbors directly and doesn’t need any alliances or unions, Gazeta.uz reported.

«We are negotiating direct commercial contracts and won’t lease our power grid system,» the official highlighted.

Uzbekistan has been struggling with a shortage of natural gas and needs to buy an additional amount of this fuel from abroad. The country’s authorities even decided to ban exports of liquefied natural gas.

Moreover, the country is planning to increase its import of gasoline, diesel and relevant oil products. The government has also suspended the import...

The National Bank of Belarus is going to remove the euro from its currency basket. Now, the Russian ruble accounts for 60% of the basket, the U.S. dollar for 30% and the Chinese yuan for 10%.

The bank said that the trade between Belarus, Russia and China has shown steady growth this year.

«On the other hand, our turnover with the European Union has plunged as well as transactions in euro,» the bank noted.

The currency and stock exchange of Belarus also reported sharp growth in trade with the Russian ruble and a decrease in the number of transactions with...

According to Kairbek Uskenbayev, minister of industry and infrastructural development, a commission established by the country’s government to investigate accidents at ArcelorMittal Temirtau is going to take tough measures.

«The government has established several commissions with more than 70 specialists from different agencies to meet the president’s order and find out the truth. The government is going to take tough measures against ArcelorMittal Temirtau including its exile from the country. You will know the details soon,» he told journalists.

He also expressed his condolences to relatives and friends of those workers who died at ArcelorMittal Temirtau.

«It is not hard...

All reports about the alleged launch of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) by the Armed Forces of Ukraine from the territory of Kazakhstan are false, according to Stopfake.kz citing the country’s Ministry of Defense.

«The allegation by the MoskovskiyKomsomolets (MK) edition that a military UAV that hit a Russian airbase was launched from Kazakhstan isn’t true. Moreover, we can officially confirm that Kazakhstan’s Armed Forces do not possess this type of UAV,» the defense ministry said.

On December 5, an unidentified UAV hit military airbase Engels-1 in the Saratov region in Russia. As a result, two Tu-95 aircraft were damaged...

Since August 10, when the European Union banned imports of Russian coal, Kazakhstan has been increasing its coal export to Europe. During this period Kazakhstan not only regained the positions it once had, but also reached a considerable increase in coal exports.

Kazakhstani coal exporters reported difficulties in transporting coal toward Europe this summer due to the Russian railways’ refusal to let it through. However, when the E.U. closed its doors for Russian coal, Kazakhstan managed to get back on the horse and fill the niche.

In October, Lithuania imported 25.4 tons of Kazakhstani coal, almost half of the entire...

Kazakhstan’s authorities are going to make it easier for labor collectives to go on strike. They prepared a set of amendments to the national legislation on regulation for workplace conflicts.

According to MP Ekaterina Smyshlyaeva, the draft law is going to oblige employers to give room for their employees to negotiate with an employer and public officials before going on strike. It is expected that the move will let workers better understand their right of assembly.

«The decision whether a labor collective should go on strike or not must be made by the majority,» said the deputy.

Another novelty of...

According to Almasadam Satkaliyev, head of the National Welfare Fund Samruk Kazyna, Kazakhstanis have sent 128,700 requests for buying more than 8.8 million shares of KazMunayGas (KMG), a national oil company. The value of this set of shares is estimated at $159 million, the official said at the cabinet’s meeting.

In general, the company offered investors to buy about 30.5 million common stocks for $546.7 million. This means that demand from retail investors accounts for 30% of the entire initial offering.

For comparison, when KazTransOil went on IPO in 2012, there were 34,687 requests from individuals for $126.6 million. In...

The Turkish company Omtis Ortadoğu Makina is going to build a new sugar plant in the Aktobe region, Kazakhstan. The project costs about $550 million, according to the regional administration’s press service.

The memorandum on cooperation was signed by Eraly Tugzhanov, the governor of the Aktobe region and Ibrahim Gultekin, founder of Omtis Ortadoğu Makina, a company well-known for its expertise in sophisticated engineering projects.

«The company is ready to invest $550 million in the plant with a capacity of 330,000 tons of sugar per year. It is expected that 180 jobs will be created,» said the regional administration.

New...

Russia is strongly interested in the creation of a cotton-textile cluster in Uzbekistan, according to Alexey Gruzdev, deputy minister of industry and trade in Russia.

«We are going to go further and put more effort into our cooperation. We are ready to increase our investments in Uzbekistan, including a more active role of Russian companies in creating cotton-textile clusters in this country. Kolobkovsky Textile, a Russian textile producer, is already engaged in such a project. This is the first Russian-Uzbekistani joint project in the field of cotton-textile clusters,» said Gruzdev at the joint session of business councils of Russia and...

TotalEnergies, the largest oil and gas company in France, has sold Total E&P Dunga GmbH, its subsidiary in Kazakhstan for $330 million, according to the press service of Total. The buyer is Oriental Sunrise Corp. Ltd. registered in Kazakhstan.

«On November 28, 2022, TotalEnergies and Oriental Sunrise Corp. Ltd. signed a purchase agreement. The latter bought Total E&P Dunga GmbH for $330 million,» said Total.

Total E&P Dunga GmbH owns a 60% share in the Dunga oil field in Kazakhstan and produces 7,400 barrels of oil equivalent per day. The other two participants of the project are Oman Oil Company...

French Total Eren is going to assist Kazakhstan in establishing a new up-to-date wind power plant while the other company from France Assystem will facilitate the development of nuclear energy in Kazakhstan. These deals have been sealed by the National Welfare Fund Samruk-Kazyna during the official visit of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to Paris this week.

The wind power station with a capacity of one Gigawatt costs $1.9 billion and will be built over 2026-2027 in the Jambyl region.

«This facility will increase the combined capacity of our renewable power sources by half. The entire project is going to be unique...

The National Welfare Fund Samruk-Kazyna is going to borrow money from the National Fund by issuing new obligations. All these funds will be allocated by the holding for strategically important infrastructure projects. To make it possible, the country’s government has even decided to amend the current legislation and expand the list of financial tools the National Fund is allowed to invest in.

These tools include securities issued by Samruk-Kazyna in order to fulfill the order of the president and implement a set of strategic infrastructure projects.

Thus, Samruk-Kazyna has already announced that tariffs in the gas, energy and logistic sectors...

The National Bank of Kyrgyzstan has reduced the size of the base rate from 14% to 13% due to lower inflation and commodity prices, according to an official statement on the regulator’s website.

This is the first time the country has decreased the base rate since May 2019.

The annual inflation in Kyrgyzstan in November reached 14.5%, a slight decrease compared to 15.4% in October. The regulator hopes that this slowdown of inflation processes will continue next year.

The National Bank is going to hold its next meeting over the size of the base rate on January 30, 2023.

Commodity...

Kazakhstan’s authorities have changed their approach to potential investors. The country is now going to provide them with 10-year residence permits, according to Tamara Duysenova, a minister of labor and social protection of the population. The official also noted that the visa threshold for investors is going to be $300,000 as the government has approved a new migration policy concept called Ashyk Kazakhstan 500+.

The new concept says that any investor who meets key requirements can live in Kazakhstan, register a business, own property, hire personnel, and make any kind of financial transactions associated with his business activity.

It is...

Iveta Dance, head of research, development and project management in SANTO told the Kursiv.media that thanks to its R&D center, the company is able not just to keep the leading position in the market, but also facilitate further development of the entire pharmaceutical industry in Kazakhstan.

SANTO is prone to support research and development activities. What does the company’s R&D division look like today?

Indeed, SANTO is not just the largest producer of pharmaceutical products in Kazakhstan and Central Asia, but also a leader in the field of drug research and development. The company’s R&D center is much bigger than...

Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are going to ally with each other to stand against threats to the national security and sovereignty of either country. The draft of the agreement has been published and now is available for review.

The draft document says that the agreement reflects the new level of partnership between the two countries and is aimed at providing peace, stability and security in Central Asia.

In case of any external attack on one country, the other is obliged to take everything needed to halt the crisis. Also, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan promise that they won’t participate in any alliance or...

Queen Rania of Jordan

When a picture of Queen Rania in Kazakh national dress went public several years ago, Kazakhstan’s media wrote (not a big surprise) that Her Majesty sparked a furor. To be fair, though, she always draws public attention whether she’s wearing jeans with a white shirt, which is an unusual look for any queen, or virtually traditional Muslim outfits. We are saying «virtually» because Rania made her position apparent many years ago. «There is no coercion in religion. I’ve made a decision not to wear a chador,» she said to a group of Western journalists...

Kazakhstan is going to reach carbon neutrality by 2060 and experts are trying to estimate the potential costs of such a transition. In November, the World Bank (WB) announced its assessment of this green transition in the country’s energy sector at $1.2 trillion.

Trillion for net zero emissions

The WB’s survey shows how the country can reach carbon neutrality and how much it would cost. The key sector of the national economy in Kazakhstan is energy, which accounts for 80% of all emissions in the country, according to the Ministry of Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources. As a...

Uzbekistan is going to double its uranium production to 7,100 tons by 2030. To achieve this ambitious goal, the country has already allowed its public company Navoiyuran to publish statistical data about uranium reserves and output with no limitations.

So far, the country’s official statistics don’t show any data about the quantity of uranium Uzbekistan had produced and sold. However, the country could have produced 3,500 tons of uranium last year, according to the World Nuclear Association.

All uranium produced in Uzbekistan is exported to big processing companies such as Orano (France), ConverDyn (the U.S.), Cameco (Canada) and CNEIC (China...

Kazakhstani cities with a population of more than one million people will be able to allocate money for the development of infrastructure in the suburban areas. It is expected that the same approach will be employed in smaller towns with a population of 500,000 people.

These proposals are part of the new legislation on the development of agglomerations that has been adopted by the country’s parliament. According to National Economy Minister Alibek Kuantyrov, big cities and different regions are going to cooperate to find better solutions for joint infrastructure development.

«In the city of Almaty, for example, there are territories...

According to the Center for Economic Research and Reforms (CERR), housing prices grew by 20% over the past ten months in Tashkent.

In October, the secondary housing market in the capital city of Uzbekistan grew by 4.6% compared to 1.7% in September. The average price for housing surged by 19.8% starting from the beginning of the year. Many experts believe the main reason for such growth is a large influx of foreigners. Between January to October, the local housing market showed 9.2% growth over the same period last year.

However, in terms of the entire country, the housing market showed...

Prime Minister Alikhan Smaillov revealed what the cabinet is going to do now that President Kassym-Jomart has been re-elected. The official said that they have seven years to realize what the president has promised to the people of Kazakhstan.

Smailov noted that the cabinet will focus on the de-monopolization of the economy, stimulating the spirit of entrepreneurship and income growth as well as modernization of the educational and healthcare systems.

He also underlined that the president wants the national economy of Kazakhstan, its social sphere and regional politics to go through a deep transformation. All public agencies and bodies have...