News

As of April 1, 2023, the combined assets of 21 commercial banks in Kazakhstan grew by 2.2% and reached $100.5 billion. According to the Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market (ARDFM) in Kazakhstan, a 2.7% increase ($1.1 billion) in liquid assets is the key driver of this growth.

Since January 1, 2023, the banking sector’s assets have grown by 1% or $1.1 billion. As of April 1, these highly liquid assets accounted for a third of all assets ($29.7 billion). Thanks to these assets the banks can meet their liabilities. As of April 1, their liabilities grew...

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan welcomed the top two contenders for the title of world chess champion, Ding Liren and Ian Nepomniachtchi. The president has highly appreciated the level of organization of the most prestigious tournament of the International Chess Federation (FIDE).

«The tournament got attention from all over the world. Chess lovers monitored closely the course of the competition. I think that it was a successful tournament,» Tokayev said.

He congratulated Ding Liren on the victory and expressed his respect to Nepomniachtchi for the skills he demonstrated.

President Tokayev said that chess is going to have a bright future...

Two prominent chess grandmasters Ian Nepomniachtchi from Russia and Ding Liren from China have shown unprecedented will to win the title of World Chess Champion 2023 in Astana, Kazakhstan. They fought for three weeks in a set of games that ended in a tie. In their final tiebreak match, the grandmaster from China won. He is now the 17th world chess champion, the first champion of that kind from China.

There is one move from tragedy to satisfaction

Fourteen matches of classic chess and three matches in rapid games weren’t enough to reveal the winner, even though Nepomniachtchi and...

Chinese grandmaster Ding Liren has been pronounced the 17th world chess champion in Astana after a tiebreak, the Kazakhstan Chess Federation (KCF) reported. According to experts, the rapid chess match was very intense.

«The first three match games ended in a tie. In the fourth one, Ding showed that he was quite serious about his intention to win and fought back, although he didn’t start out so well. As a result, the match finished with a score of 9.5:8.5. Congratulations to the winner!» the KCF said in a statement.

Om April 27, the final 13th...

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has initiated the development of a feasibility study to identify coal power stations and thermal power plants in Kazakhstan that might be switched off before their end-of-life. It also revealed a possible timeframe for such a study.

«The feasibility study for Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines was conducted during the period from February 2021 to December 2021. In Pakistan, a similar study started in October 2022 and is expected to be over in July this year. In Kazakhstan we are expecting to get the final results of the preliminary feasibility study...

A recently published report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) suggested that Kazakhstan’s GDP may show a 4.9% increase in 2024. In January, IMF’s outlook for the next year was 4.4%.

Concerning the current year, IMF predicted the country’s GDP growth at the same rate of 4.3% in both January and April reports.

On the other hand, the April report forecasts an unemployment rate of 4.8% in 2023 and 2024. There was no such data in the January report by the IMF.

In 2022, the country’s government reported a 3.1% increase in GDP. In January 2023, Kazakhstan’s economy grew by...

The Financial Monitoring Agency (FMA) of the Republic of Kazakhstan has been investigating 17 criminal cases linked with Chia Tai Tianqing, a Ponzi scheme company established by a citizen of China. His two criminal associates are currently in custody, according to the agency.

«A Chinese national is allegedly a key figure behind this Ponzi scheme. He’s already left the country,» the FMA said in a statement.

A fake company collected money from people under the pretext of investments in a pharmaceutical factory, nutrition supplements and other health products production.

Even though Chia Tai Tianqing had...

Serik Kudebayev, the former head of the Police Department of the Almaty region has been sentenced to ten years in jail.

He was accused of leaving the building of the Police Department during the January unrest, although he was supposed to stay and lead the police personnel. At the time, Kudebayev left Taldykorgan and hid in a rural area in the Almaty region.

At the initial stage, the Office of the Prosecutor General accused Kudebayev of failure to use the authority that caused severe damage to many people. However, during the trial, prosecutors blamed him for abuse of power and...

South Korean automobile giant Hyundai is planning to sell its factory in Saint Petersburg to an undisclosed company from Kazakhstan, the Russian news agency Interfax reported, citing Korean TV channel MBC.

While covering the news, the TV channel showed a building with the Astana Motors logo on it. However, there was no direct indication of who is going to buy the asset, although MBC said that the two sides have reached the final stage of negotiations.

Astana Motors denied that it is planning to buy the factory. The company highlighted that it has been focusing on the development of its...

As Prosecutor General Berik Asylov told Kursiv, former police general Serik Kudebayev has been extradited from Turkey to Kazakhstan. He is currently in custody.

«Kudebayev is accused of abuse of power and torture of protesters in January 2022,» the agency said in a statement.

Earlier this month Kudebayev didn’t show up in court and instead left the country.

Over the period from 2020 to February 2022, he served as head of the Department of Police of the Almaty region. In April 2022, he was accused of abuse of power and discharged from the office. The pre-trial investigation against Kudebayev started...

Kazakhstani car makers produced 28,800 passenger cars in Q1 2023. This is a 47.2% increase over the same period last year, according to the Association of Automobile Business of Kazakhstan (AKAB). Among the most popular brands are Hyundai (11,400 cars), Chevrolet (7,400), Kia (5,800) and Jac (4,900).

Overall, in the first quarter, Kazakhstan produced 31,800 vehicles worth $808.6 million in total. This result is 43.3% higher than last year while the machinery industry’s share in the country’s economy reached 44.5%.

These figures include 18,300 vehicles produced by Saryarkaprom in Kostanay (a 4.7% increase), 11,400 passenger cars by Hyundai Trans Kazakhstan...

According to Elizabeth Rosenberg, the Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Matthew S. Axelrod, the Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Department of Commerce and David Reed, Director for Sanctions at the U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the United States and the U.K. can impose secondary sanctions against Kazakhstan if they decide the country illegally assists Russia.

«Russia is trying to evade export controls and sanctions to obtain the goods and components that this country needs to modernize its military capabilities. One way to do this is to ship these goods through third...

Kazakhstan’s parliament has ratified the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) credit history sharing agreement. It is expected that the document will facilitate the exchange of citizens’ credit history within the organization.

The document is going to regulate the order of EEU member states to share customers’ credit history and will determine a pool of information that financial organizations can transfer through national borders. For instance, they will be able to send requests concerning credit reports or request the report itself and associated documents, according to Madina Abylkasymova, head of the Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market (ARDFM) in...

Freedom Holding is going to buy a 100% share in Aviata and Chokotravel, ticket services within Chokofamily Holding. The $32.3 million deal is expected to be closed by the end of 2023, Freedom Holding said in a statement.

According to Timur Turlov, CEO of the company, Freedom Holding’s goal is to create a full-scale ecosystem of digital services for clients. This is why «the acquiring of Aviata and Chokotravel is the next step in the development of the entire group.» More than one million of the most economically active Kazakhstanis can be considered constant users of the two online services...

The Specialized Interdistrict Criminal Court of Astana has completed the trial marked top secret against Ex-Chairman of the National Security Committee (KNB) of Kazakhstan Karim Masimov and his deputies Anuar Sadykulov, Daulet Yergozhin and Marat Osipov. All of them have been determined guilty of treason, coup d’état and abuse of power.

The court sentenced Masimov to 18 years in jail with confiscation of his property and a life-long ban from serving in the public sector. His deputy Sadykulov has been sentenced to 16 years in prison with a life-long ban from working within the government authorities.

Yergozhin was found guilty...

Gazprom and the Russian government will set a fair gas price for Kazakhstan, Energy Minister Almasadam Satkaliyev said.

«I’d like to explain the situation a little bit. As you know, the export price of any product includes prime cost, transportation cost and yield that producers want to receive. We understand that Gazprom and the Russian government are the ones who set gas prices in Russia. We are sure [the cabinet of Kazakhstan] that the price setting is going to be fair; based on close relations with Kazakhstan and the Republic of Belarus. I mean we hope...

Shares of Halyk Bank, the too-big-to-fail bank in Kazakhstan, have grown by 9.8% to $0.35, according to KASE. This increase has been driven by the good mood of investors who cheered the bank’s decision about dividend payouts of $0.056 per one common share, Freedom Broker reported.

«An announcement about upcoming dividend payouts of $0.056 per share has triggered this increase in share price. There was nothing unexpected to us but for the market, the size of dividends was a nice surprise,» Freedom Broker said in a statement.

Halyk Bank now wants shareholders to approve this...

Leroy Merlin, a French-headquartered home improvement and gardening retailer, has denied any intention to get rid of its warehouses in Russia. The company said it doesn’t plan any changes in its operation and won’t sell its warehouses (270,000 square meters) near Moscow, according to RBC news agency citing the company’s press service.

Earlier this week Kommersant, a Russian business edition, reported that Leroy Merlin is seeking a buyer for its logistical parks Yuzhny Vrata and Bely Rast near Moscow. These two warehouse facilities are estimated about $147 million.

According to Kommersant, the company pursued a sale & leaseback deal and...

During the bilateral meeting with Prime Minister of the Czech Republic Petr Fiala, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev expressed his hope for direct air travel between Astana and Prague that may emerge.

«We welcome investments from the Czech Republic in various sectors of our economy including energy, machine building, transportation, agriculture, finance, health and pharmacy,» Tokayev highlighted.

He has also said that the government of Kazakhstan is ready to offer its comprehensive support to Czech investors.

In turn, Petr Fiala believes that this meeting will boost the development of bilateral relations.

«The cooperation...

Even though both the Astana International Exchange and Toshkent Stock Exchange have doubled since 2020, KASE is still the biggest stock exchange in the region.

There are six stock exchanges in Central Asia with a total capitalization of more than $100 billion.

Kazakhstan

There are two stock exchanges in Kazakhstan: the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE) in Almaty and Astana International Exchange (AIX) in Astana. The first one was established in 1993 as an interbank currency exchange. In 1997, the exchange started to trade with stocks and in 2000, it launched the KASE_Share indicator which is currently known as KASE...

The definition of a “rich person” might be officially added to the national legislation of Kazakhstan, according to Yerulan Zhamaubayev, minister of finance.

The country’s government is going to adopt a new Tax Code by 2025. Therefore, the Ministry of Finance wants members of the parliament to discuss new rates for income tax and value-added tax as they might be differentiated between different groups of people. Those who are considered rich will pay higher taxes.

«These two taxes are the bedrock for our financial system, so all the debates are going around these taxes. We have...

According to Yerlan Aldazhumanov, deputy head of the National Security Committee (KNB) and head of the Border Service of Kazakhstan, 84% of the country’s borders are protected by border servicemen and only 16% of the border are protected with technological means.

«We have deployed special equipment on only 16% of our state border with China, which is obviously not enough. The remaining border is protected by border guards, who physically patrol border areas,» Aldazhumanov said.

The official also noted that the government provides the service with necessary financial resources but does so gradually. He refused...

The government of Kazakhstan is planning to complete the development of investment visa legislation in June 2023. Once the draft law is ready, it will be sent to the parliament for further consideration, the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection said.

If the new law is adopted, any foreign investor who is ready to invest more than $300,000 in Kazakhstan can apply for a long-term investment visa.

According to a person familiar with the matter, the draft law is almost ready.

The introduction of investment visas is part of a new migration policy that Kazakhstani authorities have been pivoting to...

Kazakhstani businesses are going to invest about $40.5 billion in fixed capital this year, according to Alikhan Smailov, who attended a meeting on the social and economic development of the country.

«The integrated Future Growth Project – Wellhead Pressure Management Project (FGP – WPMP) have been implemented (at Tengiz), a fifth gas reinjection compressor is about to start operating (at Karachaganak field) and the designing of two natural gas processing plants with a capacity of four billion cubic meters at Karachaganak and one billion cubic meters at Kashagan is underway,» Smailov said.

He also noted...