News

BNK Finance Kazakhstan, a Kazakhstani microfinance organization owned by South Korean holding BNK Capital, has received a banking license from the Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market (ARDFM). The newly established bank has been named BNK Commercial Bank.

The official ceremony for awarding the banking license was attended by ARDFM Chair Madina Abylkassymova, Consul General of the Republic of Korea Ha Tae-youk and Chair of the Board of BNK Capital Kim Song-Joo.

According to Kim Song-hyun, chair of the board of BNK Commercial Bank, the new bank will focus on providing products and services to small and...

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has invested more than $7 billion in Kazakhstan’s economy over the past 20 years. Furthermore, the bank has over $1 billion in additional projects in its portfolio that are yet to be implemented in the country. This was revealed during a meeting between Kazakhstan’s Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov and ADB’s Vice President for Market Solutions Bhargav Dasgupta, as reported by the country’s cabinet.

Established in 1966, ADB has implemented 31 projects over the past two decades and plans to complete at least nine more, including the reconstruction of roads connecting Aktobe and Kandyagash, and Kyzylorda...

Kazakhstan’s Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov has announced plans to reform the country’s space industry. Special attention was given to strengthening national sovereignty in the field, including the reduction of land leased by Russia at the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

He highlighted that Russia effectively uses only three of the 10 available launch pads at Baikonur, with the rest remaining idle. In turn, Kazakhstan plans to withdraw thousands of square meters from the portion of Baikonur Cosmodrome leased by Russia.

«The withdrawal of a 1,747-square-kilometer area from the rented territory, which will later house a special economic zone, is...

Between January and May 2025, Kazakhstan’s Tengiz field produced 15.9 million tons of crude oil, according to KazMunayGas (KMG), the national oil and gas company. Output at the country’s largest oil and gas field is now projected to reach 35.7 million tons by the end of the year, an upward revision from an earlier forecast of 34.8 million tons. Tengiz produced 27.8 million tons in 2024.

KMG CEO Askhat Khassenov recently met with Clay Neff, president of Chevron International Exploration and Production, to discuss bilateral cooperation. Topics included the implementation of large-scale oil and gas projects, industrial safety and...

President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev has signed a decree approving changes to the structure of the presidential administration, as reported by UzDaily.uz.

The document effectively introduces a new position within the administration — «head of the presidential administration.» Under the edict, the president’s eldest daughter, Saida Mirziyoyeva, has been appointed to this post.

Prior to this, she had been serving as assistant to the president since November 2022, overseeing the communications and information policy sector within the executive office of the administration.

Mirziyoyeva studied economics at the University of World Economy and Diplomacy in Tashkent. She also obtained a master’s...

Kazakhstan’s Eurasian Resources Group (ERG) is set to allocate $20 million to gallium production, as reported by Reuters. This metal is vital for electronics and radar systems.

Gallium is on the critical materials lists of the U.S. and the European Union. The company, which has never produced the resource before, aims to become the world’s second-largest producer behind China. ERG plans to produce gallium from the bauxite ore processed at its facilities to make alumina.

«ERG plans to become a significant player in the global market for gallium, starting production in 2026 to supply OECD...

In early 2024, Kazakhstan adopted a decree upgrading the village of Zhetygen in the Almaty region to a city of regional significance and renamed it Alatau, meaning «Bright Mountains.» The newly designated city has since become Kazakhstan’s flagship urban development project, with China’s Shenzhen allegedly serving as a model.

Officials plan to transform Alatau into an export-oriented trade and logistics hub. It will be included in a special economic zone (SEZ), with more than 170 projects valued at approximately $24 billion. These initiatives are expected to create 110,000 new jobs and, once fully operational, contribute an estimated...

According to the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB), the decline in oil prices — sparked by rising global economic tensions — will negatively affect Kazakhstan’s economy. By contrast, countries such as Armenia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan could benefit from trade wars due to rising prices for non-ferrous and precious metals.

The EDB currently forecasts that the average price of Brent crude will reach $67 per barrel this year, then fall to $63 over the next two years, as reported by Kommersant.ru. This decline will negatively impact the economies of Kazakhstan and Russia, the region’s key energy exporters. In 2025, the export...

On June 23, Editor-in-Chief Tatyana Trubacheva of the Kursiv.media website and former Editor-in-Chief Tatyana Nikolaeva of the Kursiv business weekly received the European Newspaper Award for the Cover and Cover Story Nationwide Newspaper category (Issue No. 1034, May 16, 2024) at the ceremony in Vienna, Austria.

The cover story is about an underground empire built by a kingpin from Kyrgyzstan. The illustration features a bald man wearing a suit jacket and a crown, gazing at a city with mountains in the background. This is a reference to the notorious boss of the Kyrgyz mafia Kamchybek Asanbek (Kamchy Kolbayev).

Tatyana Trubacheva...

Jay W. Roth, the owner of the entertainment and hospitality company Venu Holding, which operates concert venues and restaurants in Colorado, visited Kazakhstan to meet with local investors during the first-ever non-deal roadshow in Kazakhstan for an American company, organized by Freedom Broker.

Roth, whose company is valued at $538.6 million, came to Kazakhstan to meet investors in Almaty and Astana. He also gave an interview to Vadim Merkulov, the director of the analytical department at Freedom Finance, in which he discussed how his business operates.

According to Roth, the holding is currently implementing a series of projects worth...

Kazakhstan’s Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov has discussed a $62.6 million project aimed at expanding pharmaceutical production in Kazakhstan with Jerzy Starak, a representative of the Netherlands-based Polpharma Group.

The two sides discussed the progress of the Chimpharm factory expansion in Shymkent, Kazakhstan’s largest pharmaceutical company and part of the Polpharma Group, including the construction of new laboratories and production buildings.

The enterprise’s production capacity is expected to increase by 2 billion items of medicine annually, to be released under the SANTO Member of Polpharma Group trademark. The expansion is also expected to create 300 new jobs.

Local production will focus...

The Muslim Board of Uzbekistan, the country’s central Islamic authority, has warned against using ChatGPT to seek answers to religious questions, according to the Gazeta.uz news outlet.

Controversial counselor

«ChatGPT can benefit people in some areas,» the board said in a statement. «But it is not capable of providing proper answers to religious questions, as it is a product created by human beings.»

The board raised concerns that the chatbot may occasionally offer presumptive or inaccurate answers, sometimes citing religious texts or Arabic phrases that cannot be found in the referenced sources.

«The quotes...

According to Kazakhstan’s Minister of National Economy Serik Zhumangarin, the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) has become a tool that foreign companies use to evade taxes, turning it into something like an offshore zone within the country. The official made this claim during a discussion of the new Tax Code in the Senate, the upper house of the country’s parliament, as the government proposes banning the simultaneous use of two preferential regimes: the AIFC and the Entrepreneurial Code. If a company wants to receive benefits under an investment agreement, it should not be a resident of the AIFC, the ministry...

Kashagan, the largest oil field in Kazakhstan’s part of the Caspian Sea, is set to produce 18 million tons of oil in 2025, according to KazMunayGas (KMG, a subsidiary of Samruk-Kazyna), a slight increase over the previous production forecast of 17.8 million tons.

«The Kashagan output reached approximately 7.7 million tons of oil in the first five months of the year. The plan for 2025 is set at 18 million tons,» the company said in a statement.

In addition, KMG has also updated its forecast for another oil field, Karachaganak, increasing expected production from...

Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom is set to build two large power units and two smaller ones in Uzbekistan, according to an announcement made during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), held from June 18 to June 21 in Russia. The agreement outlines the basic terms for the construction of a large-capacity nuclear power plant (NPP), as reported by the Russian news agency RIA Novosti.

Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Alexander Novak stated that both sides had already discussed the project’s economic parameters. Rosatom is expected to construct two 1,000-megawatt power units and two smaller units of...

Air Astana, Kazakhstan’s flag carrier, has canceled several flights to Dubai and Doha scheduled for June 23, citing escalating tensions in the Middle East.

The following routes have been suspended:

Passengers affected by the cancellations can either rebook their tickets for a later date without penalties or receive a full refund. However, non-resident passengers will not be provided with temporary accommodation.

Kazakhstan’s citizens currently in the United Arab Emirates are advised to monitor updates through their accounts on the airline’s website. Information on return flights will be posted there.

Air...

A plant for recycling plastic waste and producing PET (polyethylene terephthalate) preforms is set to be built in Almaty. The announcement came from Darkhan Satybaldy, the city’s mayor, following a recent meeting with Murat Kökoğlu, CEO of Turkish firm Köksan Holding.

The facility will be constructed on a 15-hectare site in the Alatau district and will involve an investment of nearly $84 million. Once operational, the plant is expected to employ 138 people and produce up to 80,000 tons of PET preforms, semi-finished products used in manufacturing plastic bottles and containers, as well as 24,000 tons of recycled plastic...

Freedom Insurance has conducted a study on how drivers’ zodiac signs affect their driving style, increasing the risk of accidents. Geminis turned out to be anti-leaders in terms of accident rate.

How zodiac signs affect driving style

To determine the most aggressive zodiac signs, experts analyzed the three-year statistics for insured vehicles. Despite astrology’s popularity, underwriters noted that a driver’s zodiac sign doesn’t directly affect their road behavior. However, the findings are quite interesting.  

Over a million drivers insured their vehicles with Freedom Insurance from January 2021 to December 2023. The highest number of drivers were Geminis (164,100 people...

Dimash Qudaibergen, a prominent Kazakh singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, gave an interview to Renmin Ribao, one of China’s most influential newspapers. In the short video interview, he shared his thoughts on the friendship between Central Asia and China, as well as the power of music.

«I was born in Kazakhstan into a musical family and grew up surrounded by songs. However, I could never have imagined that one day my voice would pass through snowy mountains and vast steppes to reach China,» Dimash said, as reported on his official website.

Dimash has learned Chinese songs...

For the fifth time this year, an unidentified drone has crashed in western Kazakhstan. On June 19, residents of the Mangystau region discovered a remotely controlled aircraft.

The gray drone-like object was found in the Karakiya district, near the Bolashak railway station. Local police released minimal information, confirming only that no injuries were reported. An investigation into the incident is underway.

Previous drone crashes have all been recorded in the West Kazakhstan region:

The installation of the most powerful supercomputer in Central Asia is set to begin shortly at Kazakhtelecom’s data center in Almaty. The machine is expected to be ready for operation in 10 days. Based on NVIDIA H200 graphics processing units (GPUs), its technical specifications include 6.7 million CUDA cores, a performance of 1,600 petaFLOPS and tens of terabytes of video memory. Notably, according to the TOP500 global rankings, the current highest-performance machine — El Capitan in the U.S. — delivers a measured performance (Rmax) of 1,742 petaFLOPS.

Kazakhtelecom CEO Bagdat Mussin visited the warehouse storing parts of Kazakhstan’s first...

The Astana Department of Economic Investigations (DEI) has closed the criminal case against Temirlan Bekov, a former employee of Freedom Finance JSC, who was accused of fraud. The pretrial investigation was initiated at the request of one of the broker’s clients. Investigators ultimately found no elements of a crime in Bekov’s actions, a conclusion later confirmed by Astana prosecutors. This case had become a key element in the information campaign launched against Freedom Finance JSC. The company has stated that it is preparing legal materials to defend its business reputation.

The investigation against Bekov began in October 2024, following a...

KazMunayGas (KMG), the national oil company of Kazakhstan, has become the largest company in Kazakhstan by market capitalization, surpassing fintech giant Kaspi.kz, which has moved to second place, according to the Qazaq Association of Minority Shareholders (QAMS), which first noted this shift.

Since the beginning of the year, KMG’s market capitalization has surged by 15%, reaching $19.7 billion, according to the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE). Over the same period, shares of the previous leader, Kaspi.kz, have declined by 16.7%, with its current market capitalization standing at approximately $16.7 billion, about $3 billion behind KMG.

Furthermore, the country’s top four...

In the post-COVID-19 pandemic era, a growing sense of comfort with solitude is reshaping how people travel and socialize. While consumers are stepping out of their homes and moving beyond so-called «hermit spending» patterns, they’re increasingly doing so alone.

As The Economist notes, global online searches for «solo travel» have surged in recent years. Airbnb reports that searches for solo trips jumped 80% this spring compared with the same period last year. In the U.K., official data shows that travelers are more frequently opting for private transport, such as cars and taxis, over public transportation, which offers less privacy.