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The lower chamber of Kazakhstan’s parliament has approved in the first reading a new draft law that aims at protecting those who reported a corruption-related crime.

According to the current legislation, the state protects informants if they are part of a criminal investigation and the risk of violence against them is real.

The new draft law suggests protecting cooperative individuals in the area of workplace relations as well. As a result, it is going to be impossible to fire an employee if he reports a corruption-related crime committed by his boss. Moreover, a whistleblower that helps law enforcement officials to...

Minister of Energy Bolat Akchulakov has revealed some details concerning preparations for the start of the nuclear power station construction.

The construction of a nuclear power station seems very attractive to the country that both suffers from a lack of electricity and is committed to downgrading the role of coal in the national economy.

The official has also noted that the decision is tightly linked to the program of carbon neutrality, depreciation of energy production facilities and the huge potential of nuclear energy.

The minister recalled that Kazakhstan has everything needed for nuclear energy production including nuclear fuel plant and...

As Alibek Kuantyrov, minister of national economy, revealed at the cabinet’s meeting, the tax rate for digital miners might be increased tenfold from $0.002 to $0.02 per kilowatt-hour, Sputnik.kz reported.

According to the ministry’s data, the reason digital miners buy electricity directly from energy producers and power supply companies is quite simple: it’s all because of an attractive tariff. 

To deal with the situation, the government suggests putting digital miners into a separate class of energy consumers and making them pay a higher tariff.

Since the beginning of the current year, digital miners in Kazakhstan have been obliged to pay...

According to the press service of the Ministry of Justice of Uzbekistan, about $131 million belonging to Gulnara Karimova, daughter of the former Uzbek president Islam Karimov, will be returned to Uzbekistan from Switzerland with help of the UN Trust Fund.

On February 11, 2022, Switzerland and Uzbekistan conducted talks and agreed to establish a new multilateral trust fund run by the UN. The fund is going to be used for the recovery of assets that have been seized in the course of a criminal investigation against Karimova. As of today, $131 million is ready to be...

The Federal court of New York has decided that the legal case against Daniel Chapman, a financier from New York filed by Kazakhstan, should have continued. The financier is under accusations of facilitating fraud by Moldovan millionaires Anatol and Gabriel Stati. He actively tried to avoid participation in the civil case but failed.

On February 11, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York sustained a motion by Kazakhstan on returning of claims against Chapman in the court of the state of New York where these claims have been filed.

On November 16, 2021, the Brussel...

Berik Uali, the official spokesperson of the president of the Republic of Kazakhstan has a new appointment, Sputnik.kz reported.

During a regular meeting of the board of directors of the Qazaqstan Television and Radio Corporation Berik Uali has been elected as chairman of the board.

QAZAQSTAN TELEVISION AND RADIO CORPORATION PRESS SERVICE

Berik Uali was born in 1977. He graduated from the faculty of cinematography at the Kazakh National Academy of Arts, faculty of journalism at the Kazakh National University and faculty of law at the Kazakh Humanitarian Law Innovative University.

Over his career, Uali worked in the...

Aizhan Yesmagambetova has been appointed as a vice minister of health – new chief sanitary doctor of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the prime minister’s press service reported.

Yesmagambetova has been acting chief sanitary doctor after Erlan Kiyasov, who held this position until the moment he was discharged from office on January 27.

Yesmagambetova used to work on the Committee of State Sanitary and Epidemiologic Control. In 2017 she was head of the department of strategic development and public health under the Ministry of Health. Over 2017-2020 she worked as the head of the department of public health policy.

In...

In 2021 the volume of electronic transactions in Kazakhstan was increasing from month to month. It dropped only once in November when the volume of electronic transactions decreased to $162.9 billion. This is not a coincidence for sure as the new amendments to Kazakhstan’s Tax Code were adopted exactly that month. The amendments have been aimed at regularizing revenues Kazakhstan’s entrepreneurs receive as more and more customers prefer to pay online through mobile apps. The authorities have introduced the notion of mobile payment and made it mandatory for entrepreneurs and companies to accept payments to an official account approved by...

Last Sunday about 500 people with placards and photographs of those who were killed during the January events gathered in Almaty on the square in front of the city’s administration to commemorate victims of the January events.

Throughout the two-hour rally, people called the authorities to set free any illegally detained in January. They have also called the government to stop torture and provide a transparent and fair investigation into the events. The rally participants laid a floral wreath on the Monument of Independence and prayed for those who died here in January.

Police officers were vigilant and stayed nearby...

Citizens of Kazakhstan will be obliged to register all pets they own starting September 1, 2023, according to Aliya Shalabekova, vice-minister of ecology, geology and natural resources.

As the official noted, the agency is going to prepare a detailed procedure for the mandatory registration. Since pet owners are supposed to pay for the procedure, the government is going to reimburse payments for those who are considered a vulnerable population.

The new legislation is aimed at a total ban on dogs walking off-leash. The authorities also want to fight the problem of stray animals. In some cases, they want to trap...

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev met with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. At the meeting, the president said that Kazakhstan wants nuclear energy to contribute to the country’s economy. He’s also revealed that Russian technical universities are going to establish their subsidiaries in Kazakhstan, according to the press service of the Russian government.

Tokayev has expressed his gratitude to the Russian side for the decision to open branch offices of prominent Russian technical universities in Kazakhstan. Tech education plays a huge role nowadays, the president noted.

We have already signed an agreement on nuclear energy staff training. This is...

The Ministry of National Economy of Kazakhstan has initiated a public discussion of new legislation aimed at introducing a total ban on private companies substituting the economic functions of the state. In total, there are more than 50 such companies in the country.

The concept presented to the public doesn’t include any specific amendments to the current legislation but it provides an overall vision of the problem and suggests solutions. Concerning monopolies, the document by the ministry says that because so many private companies have possessed exclusive rights on the market, this system has produced excessive chains of agents.

On February 11, the Bank of Russia raised the key rate by 1 p.p. to 9.5% as the inflations rate has surpassed the October forecast, the regulator said.

As the Russian central bank noted, the high level of economic activity with no additional labor force has increased the inflationary pressure. Moreover, the situation in the international markets is still uncertain and the inflation expectations have stuck to multiyear highs. In this situation, the balance of risks scoots aside inflation. In turn, the Bank of Russia has been conducting a monetary policy aimed at getting the inflation rate back to 4%.

As the official reported, this year the CSTO member states are going to hold special drills on reconnaissance, dubbed Poisk-2022, as well as exercise on material and technical support of the CSTO troops, called Echelon-2022.

Also this year, the CSTO’s Collective Rapid Deployment Forces will hold a drill called Rubezh-2022 in Tajikistan where they are going to train how to fight against international terrorist groups.

In Kyrgyzstan, the CSTO is planning to deploy peacekeeping units to hold a drill called Unbreakable Brotherhood-2022. The drill must be devoted to the task of post-conflict settlement in a crisis zone.

There are six...

Mazhilis deputies have adopted a draft law on improving career patterns for Kazakhstan’s law enforcement agencies at the first reading.

Hence, applicants who are going to join local law enforcement services have to take part in a contest. In some cases, heads of regional police departments can hire an applicant out of the competition. However, all applicants should complete an internship before entering duty. 

The draft law suggests canceling that internship for those employees who are appointed to senior positions through a contest. According to Aset Chindaliyev, deputy Attorney General of the country, it is common practice to promote to...

Kazakhstan is going to embrace legislative regulation of mining companies by establishing a system of licensing the industry. The prime minister has already given that order to the government, according to the official website primeminister.kz.

As Smailov noted, this move is aimed at preventing electricity shortage from further increasing and bringing the digital mining industry in from the cold.

In 2021, KAZ Minerals Group produced 299,000 tons of copper which is 2.3% less than in 2020 when the company produced 306,000 tons of that metal. As the company reported, in 2021 it was able to go beyond the target production level of 275-295,000 tons.

Last year the company’s output of gold decreased by 17.3% to 167,000 ounces while in 2020 KAZ Minerals produced 196,000 ounces. According to the company’s report, the 2021 year’s result meets the target of 160-180,000 ounces.

The company has beefed up the production of silver from 3.37 thousand ounces to 3.41 thousand ounces. The zinc...

As the Vice Minister of Finance Marat Sultangaziyev noted, bankrupt people would be able to travel abroad if they need medical assistance or they have to accompany their relatives on a trip for medical treatment abroad or to attend a relative’s funeral. If a person is determined bankrupt, he won’t be able to repeat this procedure until the seven-year period is over.

The official noted that more than one million people in Kazakhstan have lapsed on loans and may reestablish their solvency or declare bankruptcy. For example, if a debtor has a steady income and his loan issuer doesn’t object...

According to Alibek Abdilov, an official spokesperson in the Kazakhstan Halkyna fund, there are several key priorities for the entity such as supporting families that have adopted disabled babies, children with diseases or behavioral problems.

Another focus of the fund is supporting families of law enforcement officers and military personnel who have died or have been wounded while on duty to protect the territorial integrity and the national security of the country.

The fund recognizes that many people in Kazakhstan may face various problems including financial difficulties. However, the entity is not able to solve all of...

Any foreigner with an investor visa will be able to work in the country with no limitations as long as his or her visa is valid.

According to internal rules of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, an investor visa might be issued for five years or less if a person’s passport is expiring earlier in that period.

To obtain this kind of visa an applicant has to possess an investment agreement with any of Kazakhstan’s authorized bodies, to be part of an ongoing investment project in key sectors of the reprocessing industry or be a member of the...

The volume of investments to the capital stock of Kazakhstan’s real economy (mining industry is excluded) increased last year by 9.5%. Foreign direct investments rose almost 50% over the nine months of 2021 and reached $18.8 billion.

Over 11 months of the last year, the external turnover in Kazakhstan rose by 15.4% and reached $91.4 billion. The country increased the export of goods by 25% to $54.5 billion; the volume of imported goods increased by 4.2% to $37 billion.

This year Kazakhstan has to reach a GDP growth of not less than 4% to guarantee the steady growth of the...

As the ministry informed, some local media sources reported collective appeals to the government by workers of service companies such as Burgylau, West Oil Software, Caspian Food and Buzachi Trans Kurylys as they want the government to nationalize their companies.

However, the Ministry of Energy said that there is no plan to nationalize any service company. Moreover, the government wants to sell a range of state-owned and quasi-state companies. According to the privatization plan, Samruk Kazyna, the state-owned holding which controls dozens of other businesses run by the government, is going to sell 40 entities over 2021-2025.

President Tokayev brought up the topic of land during a meeting with members of the government.

As he noted the maximal size of land parcels in different regions has been approved by local legislative bodies (maslikhats) with no solid science-based justification: 98,000 hectares in the Atyrau region, 96,000 hectares in the Almaty region and 69,000 in the East Kazakhstan region.

«Meanwhile, the Ministry of Agriculture has developed a draft rule that allows possessing a land parcel up to 98,000 hectares. It seems to me as an attempt to nail down the situation when a handful of people...

As the official reported to the government, despite volatility on the markets the National Fund was able to get a yield of 4.2% ($2.3 billion) last year.

This year the National Bank is going to shift to a well-balanced strategy of assets allocation as well as introduce a new protective mechanism to minimize possible losses because of stock market fluctuations, said Pirmatov.

Last year the country’s gold reserves lost $1.3 billion and dropped to $34 billion in total. This decrease was driven by the withdrawal of about $1.2 billion of foreign currency to serve the state debt, support currency interventions...