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VTB Bank Kazakhstan has started issuing plastic Mir payment cards, according to the Interfax news agency citing the bank’s press service.

The bank has also been issuing digital Mir cards since December 2022.

According to Stanislav Kozyakov, head of retail business in VTB Kazakhstan, the bank sees high demand for Mir cards from retail clients who make online payments or travel to Russia.

«Our bank is number one in Kazakhstan in terms of money withdrawal with the help of Mir cards,» he said.

The bank says that it can issue a plastic card within one...

Mikhail Lomtadze, head of Kaspi.kz took part in the Tech, Media and Telecom 2023 conference by Morgan Stanley in San Francisco where he talked about the unique experience of Kaspi.kz

Morgan Stanley has been organizing the Tech, Media and Telecom conference for 30 years. Every year this conference gathers leading tech companies and investors from all over the world like Elon Musk, heads of Google, Microsoft, PayPal and many other tech giants.

«During the conference, my colleagues and I talked about Kazakhstan, the fast development of technologies in our country and what we have done to...

According to KazTransOil (KTO), Inpex North Caspian Sea Ltd., a stakeholder (7.563%) of North Caspian Operating Company (NCOC) is going to send its oil to Europe via the port of Aktau and the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline (BTC). NCOC is the consortium that operates the Kashagan oil field.

«From a technical point of view, we can export 6.2 million tons of oil a year via Aktau. So far, the port has booked part of its capacity for 1.5 million tons of oil that Tengizchevroil wants to export via the Trans-Caspian route toward the BTC. Inpex from the Kashagan...

KazTransOil (KTO), a subsidiary of the national oil company KazMunayGas, reported a 60.9% drop in its consolidated net profit.

«In 2022, the consolidated net profit of KTO was about $44.9 million, a 60.9% decline compared to 2021,» the company said in a statement.

Nevertheless, the consolidated earnings of the company reached $580.2 million in 2022, a 7.3% increase over the year before.

Earnings of KTO itself reached $418.5 million last year, a 1.3% decline over the same period of 2021.

In 2022, KTO’s net profit dropped by 78.3% to $19 million compared to 2021.

KazMunayGas...

According to Aliya Moldabekova, deputy head of the National Bank of Kazakhstan, in February the country’s national currency tenge demonstrated confident growth. As the official said in a interview with the Kapital edition, non-residents’ appetite for state bonds and selling out of quasi-state companies were key drivers of the exchange rate strengthening.

In February, the regulator reported a 3.2% increase in the tenge exchange rate. Despite rumors, the reasons behind this strengthening are quite simple, said Moldabekova. For instance, February has been a popular season for large quarterly tax payments since 2016, when the tenge exchange rate has become free...

Bereke Bank, a former subsidiary of Sberbank Russia, which is now under the control of the state-owned holding Baiterek, is no longer on the sanctions list, according to the U.S. Ministry of Finance.

On March 8, the Kursiv edition wrote that on March 9, 2023, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Treasury Department is going to launch an official procedure of withdrawal of Bereke Bank from the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (SDN). The bank had been on the list since April 2022. At the time, it was a subsidiary of Russian Sberbank.

«On...

The construction of a new pipeline toward the Caspian Sea to export oil may take Kazakhstan five years, according to Bloomberg citing Bolat Akchulakov, the country’s ministry of energy who spoke at the CERAWeek conference in Houston, Texas.

«Akchulakov said Kazakhstan is planning a new pipeline that would take its crude to the Caspian Sea for export. But developing such a project could take five years and would also require a new fleet of oil tankers,» the news agency reported.

The article also highlights that according to Kazakhstan’s energy minister the country’s «number one problem,» is how to diversify its...

Chevron Corp., one of the biggest oil producers in the U.S., is planning to increase oil output at the Tengiz oil field in Kazakhstan by up to one million barrels per day, according to state news agency Kazinform, citing CEO of the company Mike Wirth, who attended the CERAWeek conference in Houston.

As Wirth noted, Chevron has a project that can increase oil output to one million barrels per day in Kazakhstan.

The expansion project is set to start its operation as the construction phase has already been completed. The company will put into operation the remaining facilities over the...

In 2022, KAZ Mineral increased its copper output to 380,000 tons or 27% more than in the year before.

«In 2022, the Kazakhstani copper company KAZ Minerals produced 380,000 tons of copper, a 27% increase over 299,000 tons produced in 2021. Successful introduction of up-to-date standards at the second sulfide concentrator at Aktogay and increased production at the first sulfide concentrator have become main drivers of the increase» the company said in a statement.

However, in the fourth quarter of 2022, copper production dropped by 10% to 98,000 due to the maintenance of the first...

On March 9, 2023, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Treasury Department is going to launch an official procedure of withdrawal of Bereke Bank from the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (SDN). The bank has been on the list since April 2022. At the time, it was a subsidiary of Russian Sberbank.

«On February 6, OFAC officially notified the U.S. Congress that it is going to lift sanctions from Bereke Bank. This means that the agency no longer has claims against the bank and its intention is quite clear. On March 8, it will...

Bakhytzhan Toregozhina, a civil society activist from Kazakhstan, has been nominated for the U.S. Secretary of State’s International Women of Courage Award (IWOC) for documenting human rights violations associated with the widespread unrest that occurred in Kazakhstan last January and assisting victims of the event. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and First Lady Jill Biden will honor Toregozhina and other extraordinary women from all over the world at the White House on March 8, the State Department reported.

«Throughout her career, Toregozhina has been a leading voice representing victims of torture, abuse, and politicized repression...

Freedom U.S. Markets, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Freedom Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: FRHC) has completed the acquisition of LD Micro, a host for micro-cap conferences and owner of the leading website for micro-cap investors.

The total consideration of $8.3 million includes $4 million in cash and FRHC common stock valued at $4.3 million. However, financial technology company SRAX, the previous owner of LD Micro, will continue to maintain exclusive rights to stream the LD Micro conference, film interviews, and hold an exclusive position as the market intelligence platform and digital advertising sponsor of the event.

«The...

According to Aybek Smadiyarov, the official spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, the country doesn’t want to facilitate any attempts to breach the international sanction regimes. However, Bloomberg reported that Russia is successfully breaching the sanctions by importing semiconductors and other technologies it needs for the war on Ukraine via third-party countries including Kazakhstan, Turkey and the UAE.

During a press briefing in the MFA, journalists asked Smadiyarov if he was aware of such facts. In response, the official said that the ministry has to check this information first.

«As we said before...

Zolotaya Korona (or KoronaPay), a service of instant money transfers that accounts for three-quarters of money transfers between Russia and Kazakhstan, has suspended its operation with international money transfers from cards issued by several Russian banks. The move followed a decision of the company’s partners who do not want to breach sanctions, according to the RBC news agency citing the press service of Zolotaya Korona.

Holders of cards issued by Tinkoff, Sber and Alfa Bank can no longer make any international money transfers with the help of Zolotaya Korona. When a user attempts this, he or she sees a notice...

A new nonprofit organization – the Association of Secondary Raw Material Recyclers – was officially registered in Kazakhstan on March 3, 2023. The new entity is going to represent the interests of the recycling industry. Batyrbek Aubakirov, head of Kazakh Export’s Public Council and director of the Packaging Association of Kazakhstan, has been appointed head of the new association.

According to Aubakirov, the association will focus on improving legislation, increasing transparency within the industry by digital means, facilitating the training of new specialists, providing address support to secondary raw material recyclers and introducing a mechanism for subsidizing.

He also noted...

Fitch Ratings has affirmed Uzbekistan’s long-term foreign-currency (LTFC) issuer default rating (IDR) at ‘BB-‘, with a stable outlook, the rating agency reported.

Fitch rated Uzbekistan at BB- in December 2018 and hasn’t changed it since then.

According to the agency, Uzbekistan’s ratings reflect robust external and fiscal buffers, low government debt and a record of high growth relative to ‘BB’ rated peers’ on the one hand and high commodity dependence, high inflation and structural weaknesses in terms of low GDP per capita on the other hand.

Fitch noted that Uzbekistan’s government appears willing and able to proceed with key...

On March 1, the Aurora Space cultural center turned into a realm of independent music. Those who organized the event did their best to turn just a regular evening program into a small music festival.

The program was opened by the duo Balkhash Snitsa, consisting of poet Anuar Duseybinov and composer Rustem Myrzakhmetov. They performed classic spoken word, calm poetry accompanied by fragile electronic music in ethnic style and live guitar music that played from time to time. The performance was quite monotonous and sometimes you couldn’t clearly understand what sounds to focus on. It was like live broadcasting from...

According to the office of the prime minister of Kazakhstan, Chinese transit cargo that goes by the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (or Middle Corridor) through Kazakhstan will be delivered one week faster by the end of this year.

Kazakhstan’s authorities say that Chinese cargo can go two times faster through the country’s territory this year than a year before (six days instead of 12). By the end of 2023, this route will take only five days. In general, the entire route from China to ports on the Black Sea now takes 19 to 23 days instead of 38 to...

The government of Kazakhstan, Samruk-Kazyna and ACWA Power from Saudi Arabia signed an agreement on principles of implementation of a renewable power project, according to a press release of the country’s Ministry of Energy.

The document was signed on March 1, when Kazakhstan’s Energy Minister Bolat Akchulakov and Samruk-Kazyna Board Chairman Almasadam Satkaliyev met with Minister of Energy of Saudi Arabia Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud and top executives from Saudi Aramco, SABIC and ACWA Power. The new project is expected to provide Kazakhstan with investments and new jobs and will strengthen the country’s green power capabilities.

American company Wabtec has taken all necessary actions to expand the manufacturing capabilities of the Locomotiv Kurastyru Zauyty (LKZ) in Astana. As a result, the factory’s capacity will be doubled. Vice President of Wabtec Gokhan Bayhan made this statement during a meeting with Kazakhstan’s Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov.

According to Bayhan, the company is going to expand the list of items produced locally, introduce green technologies, improve maintenance service and intensify exports to other Central Asian states.

In turn, Smailov has confirmed that the country’s cabinet is fully committed to supporting Wabtec’s investment plans.

LKZ started its operation in February...

Kazakhstan is awaiting an additional $2 billion of investments in geological exploration as the government is working on a new and improved model-based contract in this area, reported Ortcom.kz citing Minister of Energy Bolat Akchulakov, who took part in the meeting with Kazakhstani entrepreneurs.

According to Akchulakov, under the contract, Kazakhstan must provide an investor with a set of regulatory and fiscal preferences for oil and gas exploration and production. The official said that the government has already signed a similar contract with KazMunayGas (KMG). The company is going to invest about $6 billion in the Kalamkas-Sea, Khazar and Auezov...

Adani Group is still showing its interest in power plant projects in Kazakhstan, according to Ernat Berdigulov, managing director for strategy and asset management in the National Welfare Fund Samruk-Kazyna. In December 2022, Indian billionaire Gautam Adani was in Astana, where he met with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

«We continue to negotiate with Adani Group. Despite problems within the company, it’s still interested in projects in our country. We talked to them just a week ago. They are still eager to cooperate with us and plan to send their specialists to discuss a project in more detail...

According to Antony Blinken, the U.S. state secretary, it is impossible to talk about Russia’s future plans. Countries all over the world should be united now to help Ukraine. He made this statement during the press briefing at Kazakhstan’s MFA in Astana.

Blinken also noted that the international community is very concerned about Russian aggression against Ukraine.

«It’s aggression not only against Ukraine, but the very principles of the U.N. charter including territorial integrity, independence, sovereignty, principles that matter deeply to countries in Central Asia, including Kazakhstan. In response to what Russia did, countries around the...

On February 27, a group of inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) started its work in Kazakhstan, according to the country’s Ministry of Energy press service.

«On February 27, 2023, the IAEA experts arrived in Kazakhstan with an Integrated Nuclear Infrastructure Review (INIR) mission in order to assess the current status of the country’s nuclear power infrastructure, including its preparedness for the construction of its first nuclear power plant. The IAEA mission will stay in the country until March 3, 2023,» the ministry said in a statement.

The mission is going to facilitate...