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In January, the Business Activity Index calculated by Freedom Holding Corp. and S&P Global rose to 51.3 from 49.7 in December. The index ranges between 0 and 100, with a reading above 50 indicating growth and below 50 indicating contraction.

The index is based on a single question that asks about changes in the volume of business activity compared to the previous month.

«The latest increase in service sector activity, though modest, was the most pronounced since July of last year,» Freedom Holding Corp. said in a statement on Kazakhstan Services PMI® for January 2025.

To enhance tourist safety, every foreign visitor arriving in Kazakhstan will receive a special card with a QR code at border checkpoints or airports, according to the Polisia.kz news portal. The QR code will direct travelers to the multilingual electronic portal Safetravel.kz, which provides essential information.

The Safetravel.kz system is designed to ensure the safe movement of tourists throughout Kazakhstan. The portal offers key resources, including:

Kazakhstan’s National Bank will continue buying back older-design U.S. Federal Reserve notes, commonly known as «white dollars,» from Kazakhstani banks to prevent the accumulation of unclaimed cash in the country, according to the regulator. To remove these older, unpopular banknotes from circulation, the National Bank began repurchasing them from financial institutions last year.

«At the end of last year, the National Bank facilitated the return of $48 million in unclaimed U.S. dollar cash to the U.S. Federal Reserve. This direct arrangement with the Fed, involving older banknotes accepted from second-tier banks, helped minimize transportation, insurance and...

In 2024, two Kazakhstani banks changed ownership, while two others received additional capital investments from their majority shareholders. The banks affected by these changes were Bereke Bank, Al Hilal, Home Credit Bank and ForteBank.

The state-owned holding Baiterek sold its 100% stake in Bereke Bank to Lesha Bank from Qatar for $125.7 million last year, according to Forbes.kz.

Moreover, Kazakhstan’s regulator also authorized the acquisition of 100% of Al Hilal’s common shares by Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB). In October, media outlets reported that ADCB had become the direct owner of Al Hilal, renaming it ADCB Islamic Bank.

Home Credit...

Speaking at the Digital Almaty 2025 forum, Timur Turlov, president of the Kazakhstan Chess Federation (KazChess) and founder of Freedom Holding Corp., stressed the importance of chess in maintaining intellectual agility, arguing that this skill is crucial for adapting to the challenges of the digital era.

«Artificial intelligence (AI) is advancing rapidly, making it increasingly difficult for humans to compete with its latest models,» Turlov said. «But chess offers a proven way to maintain intellectual flexibility and adapt to the digital age. This ancient game sharpens our minds and develops our ability to make quick decisions...

Kazakhstan’s leading pension fund management entities have released performance reports for the past year. Kursiv.media analyzed them to see which entities outperformed their competitors.

In 2024, pension asset management companies (PAMCs) in Kazakhstan delivered solid returns for depositors. However, six major players in this review showed mixed investment results. BCC Invest had the lowest return at 15.2%, while Halyk Finance led the pack with 18.1%, according to data from Kazakhstan’s Unified Accumulative Pension Fund (UAPF).

For comparison, in 2023, the performance gap between the highest- and lowest-yielding funds was 7.1 percentage points (p.p.), whereas in 2024, it narrowed to...

On Feb. 4, World Cancer Day, Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Healthcare revealed cancer statistics for 2024. Over the past year, the number of people diagnosed with the disease rose by nearly 6%.

«In 2024, over 230,000 cancer patients were under continuous monitoring, which is 5.9% more compared to 2023,» the agency said in a statement.

According to the Ministry of Healthcare, 40,000 new cancer cases are recorded annually, with over 12,000 Kazakhstanis dying from the disease each year.

«The most common types of cancer include breast cancer (5,652 cases), colorectal cancer...

Ondasyn Urazalin, ex-governor of the Aktobe region, has been appointed to the board of directors of KMK Munai, an oil company operating exclusively within the region and part of the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC).

According to KMK Munai, the decision on the appointment of Urazalin was made by the company’s general meeting, which also voted to suspend Yessimkhan Kurmangazin from the board.

The new board consists of Li Shufeng, Zhang Baorui, Wang Jinbao, Yue Zhirong, Chen Kang, Yang Yongfeng, Sun Lei, Mansiya Babasheva and Ondasyn Urazalin.

Urazalin served as governor of the Aktobe region from 2019 to 2022. Previously...

Kazakhstan’s Minister of Transport Marat Karabayev promised to reveal the cause of the incident involving an AZAL airline aircraft from Azerbaijan near Aktau shortly. He stated that the preliminary results of the investigation will be published on the ministry’s website.

This remark followed a question from journalists about the timeline for the official investigation into the AZAL incident.

«Specialists are working hard to find the truth. As we mentioned before, experts from Azerbaijan, Russia, Brazil and ICAO are involved,» Karabayev said.

In turn, some media representatives noted that the causes of any air incident must...

Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Energy reported that the country will take all necessary measures to meet its obligations to OPEC+ in 2025 and 2026. Debates over cuts and compensations have been ongoing since last fall.

«In light of the 58th meeting of the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee, Kazakhstan confirms its commitment to the agreement with OPEC+. The country will take all necessary measures to fulfill its obligations and compensate for 2024 overproduction this year and next year,» the agency said in a statement.

During the meeting on Feb. 3, OPEC reported that Kazakhstan and Iraq have...

Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has initiated an unscheduled inspection following the information leak about cyber espionage, according to the Ministry of Digital Development. Previously, it was reported that Kazakhstan’s diplomatic organizations had come under cyberattack, allegedly linked to Russia-based hackers.  

Cyberattacks on the MFA systems have been continuously recorded for over a year. Although the Ministry of Digital Development has been aware of them, the agency decided to perform an inspection after Sekoia.io, a cybersecurity software company headquartered in France, posted its report on the issue on Jan. 13.    

Baliya Kenzhebulatova, a representative of the...

Chinese AgiBot plans to establish a joint venture in Kazakhstan to manufacture robots and develop artificial intelligence (AI) solutions, Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Digital Development reported.

The agreement was signed at the Digital Almaty 2025 forum between the Ministry of Digital Development, the Ewpartners private investment company, AgiBot representatives and Qazaqstan Investment Corporation, a subsidiary of the state-owned Baiterek holding.

AgiBot, a Chinese startup, was founded in February 2023 by former Huawei employee Peng Zhihui. The company specializes in manufacturing anthropomorphic robots designed for various tasks, including household and industrial applications. In December 2024, AgiBot’s Shanghai facility produced 1,000 robots.

This...

Kazakhstan reported an annual inflation rate of 8.9% in January, which is 0.3 percentage points (p.p.) higher than in December. The monthly price increase totaled 1.1%, reflecting a 0.2-p.p. rise compared to the previous month, according to Kazakhstan’s Bureau of National Statistics.

The highest inflation rates are observed in 12 out of 20 regions, including the city of Astana (11.2%), the Karaganda region (9.9%), the West Kazakhstan region (9.7%) and the North Kazakhstan region (9.6%). In turn, the Almaty (6.6%), Turkestan (7.5%) and Zhambyl (7.6%) regions, alongside the city of Shymkent (7.4%), experienced rates below the national average.

Service prices...

The Freedom Holding Corp. Kazakhstan Manufacturing PMI® (Purchasing Managers’ Index™) remained above the 50.0 no-change mark again in January, the eleventh consecutive month in which this has been the case. That said, the reading was down from December’s survey record of 53.9 to 51.5, signaling a modest strengthening of business conditions which was the least pronounced since last April.

In early January the manufacturing industry reported an increase in new orders. Panelists reported the signing of new contracts amid improving demand.

The rise in new orders encouraged firms to expand production, although, in line with the headline index, the pace...

Kazakhstan’s recent proposal to ban the import of several satellite communication devices — including those from major manufacturers such as Thuraya, Iridium, Inmarsat and Starlink — has sparked widespread debate. Many commentators have spoken out against the proposal, prompting its initiators to backtrack.

The logic behind the proposed ban

On Dec. 6, 2024, Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Digital Development published a draft order on the Legalacts.egov.kz portal, proposing new regulations on the import of certain telecommunications equipment with control centers located outside the country.

The proposed regulation targets satellite phones and stations used for communication in remote areas by rescue teams...

Kazakhstan is not ready to ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague due to certain contradictions with the Constitution of Kazakhstan, according to the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). This means that Kazakhstan will not arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin under the arrest warrant issued by the ICC.

This response followed the UN’s repeated recommendation for Kazakhstan to join the Rome Statute, with the first recommendation Kazakhstan received back in 2019.

«There are some legal issues that prevent our country from ratifying the Rome Statute of the International Criminal...

Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Energy has responded to Rosatom CEO Alexey Likhachev’s statement about the company’s role in nuclear power plant (NPP) construction in Kazakhstan. The agency said that neither a sole technology vendor nor a consortium has been arranged yet.

«The final decision on selecting a vendor or a consortium for the NPP project implementation has yet to be made. We plan to make this decision, taking into account Kazakhstan’s interests, international regulatory requirements and liabilities,» the ministry said in a statement.

In late January, Likhachev stated that the two countries were «heading toward...

CEO of Freedom Holding Corp. Timur Turlov believes that businesses shouldn’t fear the cost of artificial intelligence (AI) development. In the end, it doesn’t matter how much is spent on developing AI technology, as businesses can always generate more revenue once it is implemented, the businessman said at the Digital Almaty 2025 forum.

Timur Turlov emphasized that the key value of technology is not how much is invested in it but how it is applied in practice.

«It doesn’t matter whether you spend tens or hundreds of millions on the first version of your AI. Once...

China’s diversified company Dalian Hesheng Holdings is considering a Kazakhstani partner for its project to build an industrial park for deep processing of up to 3 million tons of wheat in the Arshaly district of the Akmola region, according to the national company Kazakh Invest.

«The project will be financed primarily through the investors’ own capital, while the possibility of involving Kazakhstani partners for additional funding is also being explored,» Kazakh Invest said in response to Kursiv.media’s inquiry.

The project will be implemented in the Aqmola industrial zone, located in the Arshaly district of the...

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin claimed that Kyrgyzstani officials are allegedly pressuring Russian businesses for no reason. He made this statement during a meeting with his Kyrgyzstani counterpart, as reported by the Interfax news agency. Russia has also submitted a diplomatic note to Kyrgyzstan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA).

According to Mishustin, Kyrgyzstani civil servants are making baseless claims against «respectable» and «good-faith» Russian companies operating in Kyrgyzstan.

He demanded the protection of the rights and interests of Russian investors and an end to pressure they face. Mishustin added that «evidence of illegal and even extortive actions has been outlined...

According to Kazakhstan Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) may significantly increase network load and even have negative ecological consequences.

«I’d like to draw attention to some aspects of AI that raise justified concerns among many people. I’m talking about AI’s influence on the labor market and the need to retrain our specialists; ethical issues of using AI, including manipulation of public opinion and other risks; environmental consequences and the load on the power grid; providing equal access to AI for different countries and social groups, as well as mechanisms for controlling...

CEO of Freedom Holding Corp. Timur Turlov announced in his blog on Threads that Freedom Bank Kazakhstan is set to launch a retail digital bank in Tajikistan as early as this spring.

He has also assessed the potential of the country’s banking sector with $2 billion in assets. According to Turlov, non-cash transactions in Tajikistan account for just 20%, while banking services remain quite expensive in the country.

He also emphasized that the holding has already hired specialists who will work on the digital bank project in Tajikistan. In response to users’ comments, Turlov stated that the first payment cards...

According to Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Agriculture, the country is set to expand its meat exports to Europe via Russian territory, as Moscow prepares to lift the ban it imposed three years ago. At the time, Russian authorities cited concerns over Kazakhstan’s failure to meet veterinary standards.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture Azat Sultanov emphasized that Russia and Kazakhstan have reached an agreement to partially lift restrictions on Kazakhstani meat and meat product imports into Russia.

«We closely cooperate with Russia in regard to agricultural product supplies. Currently, we are working on lifting bilateral import restrictions, as this...

Since 2001, Washington has allocated $2.07 billion in assistance to Kazakhstan, according to the U.S. Department of State. The bulk of this funding was provided through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Data on U.S. government aid to various countries, including Kazakhstan, from 2001 to 2024 is available on the ForeignAssistance.gov website.

Over the past 23 years, Kazakhstan has received a total of $2.07 billion in U.S. aid. The highest allocation came in 2010, with $331.2 million, while the lowest funding was during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, at just $14.6 million.

The breakdown of U.S. aid to...