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Kazakhstan has launched an excursion train called Jibek Joly (the Silk Way). The first test tour follows a route from Almaty to Tashkent with a stop in Turkestan. According to Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Tourism, just over 100 travelers participated in the first-ever ride, which is designed to last five days.

«A new Jibek Joly excursion train is composed of five new Kazakhstani-made modern railway cars that haven’t been used on any other route. The crew of a trainmaster, eight experienced car attendants and a technician ensure exceptional customer service,» the agency said in a statement.

According to the website of the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE), in 2023, the state-run Samruk-Kazyna fund reported a consolidated net revenue of 1.698 trillion tenge ($3.4 billion).

From this amount, the fund will allocate $100 million to the Kazakhstan Halkyna charity fund. The remaining undistributed revenue will be retained by the fund and its subsidiaries for «financing investment programs, satisfying payment obligations and acquiring assets.» This means that Samruk-Kazyna has opted not to pay dividends to the government, its sole shareholder, for 2023.

In January, the fund transferred a record-high dividend payment of $478.7 million for 2022. In total, Samruk-Kazyna...

Zaman Bank’s bold decision to establish cooperation with Afghanistan led to a successful $10,000 test transfer between the Kazakhstani bank and Afghanistan’s Ghazanfar Bank. Kursiv.media has spoken with Kazakhstani entrepreneurs who either have already been trading with Afghanistan or are considering starting such a cooperation.

Spectrum of opinion

Kazakhstani businessmen cooperating (or planning to do so) with entrepreneurs in Afghanistan can be divided into three groups.

The first group comprises those already satisfied with the current situation. For instance, a flour miller from the Kostanay region, who has already been supplying goods to Afghanistan for 25 years, said that...

In 2024, 14 people in the North Kazakhstan region were convicted of inciting interethnic discord and separatism, according to the Prosecutor General’s Office.

This year, regional courts handled 10 criminal cases involving 14 individuals. In one instance, two people in Petropavlovsk were sentenced to prison in November for separatism.

«They denied using the YouTube platform ‘Chat Ruletka’ to promote violation of the integrity of the Republic of Kazakhstan, inviolability and inalienability of its territory. However, irrefutable evidence was found in materials published on Instagram and TikTok,» the law enforcement agency said in a statement.

The...

Kazakhstanis traveling to Russia will be obliged to submit their biometrics, according to a new regulation that enters into force in Russia on Dec. 1, Kazakhstan’s embassy in Russia reported. Initially, citizens of Kazakhstan will have their fingerprints collected and their faces scanned at Moscow airports and one of the border checkpoints.

«At the first stage of the experiment that will take place between Dec. 1, 2024, and June 30, 2026, citizens of Kazakhstan will be obliged to submit their biometrics — face images and fingerprints — only upon arrival at the international airports in Moscow...

Kazakhstan’s KazMunayGas (KMG) and Hungary’s MOL Group are set to triple gas production at the large Rozhkov gas and condensate field in the Western Kazakhstan region, KMG’s press service reported.

Over the first 10 months of 2024, 222 million cubic meters of gas and 166,000 tons of gas condensate have been produced at the field. The companies are currently working to accelerate the project’s development, aiming to boost annual gas and condensate production to 700 million cubic meters and 400,000 tons, respectively.

The two sides have discussed the project during KMG CEO Askhat Khassenov’s visit to Budapest. The meeting participants...

On Nov. 19, 2024, people in Ukraine marked 1,000 days since Russia’s full-scale invasion — a period defined by devastation, loss and extraordinary resilience. On the eve of this somber milestone, the photo exhibition «Beyond the Silence» opened at Egin Art Space in Almaty. The exhibition explores themes of territory and struggle across five countries. This article offers an overview of the photographers’ works, as reported by a Kursiv LifeStyle correspondent who attended the event.

Since the onset of the full-scale Russian invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, Ukraine has faced immense challenges. These hardships resonate deeply with Kazakhstani society, given...

Kazakhstan will secure a $550 million loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) once members of the Mazhilis, the lower house of parliament, approve the move.

«The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development is issuing an 84.9-billion-yen loan to the Republic of Kazakhstan ($550 million) with a maturity of 11 years. The loan is expected to be raised to support the sustainability of the country’s economy within the framework of the approved deficit of the national budget during the planned period,» MP Tatiana Savelyeva said during a Mazhilis meeting.

In mid-November, the...

Kazakhstan’s National Bank has presented its vision on the regulation of the crypto currency market and its integration into the national economy. In particular, the regulator suggests legally recognizing securities and real estate tokenization — the division and conversion of the assets into digital units. Additionally, the bank advocates for implementing «smart» market regulation.

The proposal followed the National Bank’s analysis of the situation on the global market of crypto assets, including digital financial assets, cryptocurrencies, stablecoins and other types of digital assets. After that, the regulator prepared its recommendations for crypto asset regulation based on current trends.

According to...

Kazakhstan’s Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market (ARDFM) aims to tighten oversight of banking conglomerates. The proposed changes will primarily affect the capital adequacy ratio, which has been applied only to commercial banks until now, according to a statement from the ARDFM’s press office.

A banking conglomerate is a group of companies under one ultimate owner. This group typically includes banks and other financial institutions, such as insurance companies and brokerage firms. The goal of these mergers is to offer a broad range of financial services within a unified structure.

Between 2023 and 2024, the ARDFM has...

Kazakhstan is set to further reduce the number of foreign workers allowed in the country. By 2025, the quota for hiring migrant workers will be reduced to 3%. However, this restriction does not apply to citizens of Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) countries, who are not required to obtain a work permit.

A draft order from Minister of Labor and Social Protection Svetlana Zhakupova has been published on the Legalacts.egov.kz portal. The document outlines quotas for 2025 as follows:

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić shared online a chest of apples gifted to him by Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev upon his arrival in Belgrade. Vučić noted that their meeting took place in a warm and friendly atmosphere.

«I received the famous Kazakh apples as a gift…» the Serbian leader wrote on Facebook.

Expressing his gratitude to Tokayev, Vučić said it was an honor to host Kazakhstan’s president.

«Serbia is a country that proudly opens its doors to its friends, and tonight we proved it once again. Our tradition of hospitality and...

Kazakhstan’s pension system has outperformed those of the U.S., Spain, Japan, South Korea, China, Saudi Arabia and other countries in many key metrics, according to the Unified Accumulative Pension Fund (UAPF). However, one critical area still lags far behind developed nations: the adequacy of pensions.

The U.S.-based consulting firm Mercer, in collaboration with the CFA Institute, recently released the 2024 Mercer CFA Institute Global Pension Index (MCGPI). This annual ranking evaluates pension systems across 48 countries. Kazakhstan ranked 24th, earning what the UAPF called a «golden mean.»

Analysts assessed the pension systems using three sub-indices: adequacy, sustainability and integrity. The...

Kazakhstan’s Alpha Wind, owned by Singapore-based Pluto Renewable Energy Investment Pte Ltd., has secured a bid to construct a 100-megawatt (MW) wind power plant (WPP) in the Kostanay region. The announcement was made by Korem JSC, Kazakhstan’s operator of the centralized electricity trading market and the auction organizer.

According to Korem, on Nov. 15, 2024, auctions were held to select projects for WPPs in the Northern Zone of the Unified Electric Power System of Kazakhstan, with a total installed capacity of 100 MW. The winning bidder was Alpha Wind LLP, with an installed project capacity of 100 MW at an...

The U.S. President-elect Donald Trump had managed to make many intriguing and unexpected promises during his election campaign, leaving the world to feel that his return to the White House marks the beginning of a new era, a new life for everyone: countries, corporations, politicians, entrepreneurs, the rich and the poor. However, this new reality isn’t going to be good for all.

Hopefully, our government will embrace the idea expressed by American writer Stephen King, whose words are often attributed to Mao Zedong: «The man who senses the wind of change should build, not a windbreak, but a windmill.»

Using...

The consumer confidence index (CCI) continues to strengthen in the optimistic zone. For the first time in a long while, actual (perceived) inflation has exceeded the population’s inflation expectations, despite consumers increasingly noticing the rise in prices for goods and services. There is a decline in overall anxiety, including concerns about the labor market. Credit confidence is on the rise, along with the proportion of Kazakhstanis planning to take out loans, though sentiment around deposit confidence remains unchanged.

This report highlights the findings from the 23rd wave of Freedom Finance Global PLC’s Consumer Confidence Survey, conducted monthly since November...

Since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Kazakhstani authorities have opened 46 criminal cases against citizens involved in military conflicts and seven for mercenary activities. However, it is unclear which specific conflicts these individuals participated in.

Kazakhstanis in foreign wars over the past decade

In March 2014, following Russia’s annexation of Crimea, Kazakhstan introduced a new article to its criminal code aimed at deterring citizens from engaging in mercenary activities. In 2015, the General Prosecutor’s Office recorded 73 such cases in its Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations (URPTI), followed by 36 cases in 2016. The numbers dropped significantly in...

The National Bank and the National Payment Corporation have launched a pilot project aimed at the introduction of interbank payments with the help of QR codes, the regulator’s website reported. As the initiative is in its first stage, only two financial institutions have joined the pilot project so far: Freedom Bank and Bank RBK.

The launch of an interbank QR payment service is going to unify the QR payment infrastructure. Once the project is fully operational, consumers will be able to pay for their purchases through any terminal, no matter which bank owns it. Moreover, shop owners will save money...

Kaspi.kz has abandoned its plan to acquire the Humo payment service in Uzbekistan, the press service of the Kazakhstani fintech giant reported.

In August, Kaspi.kz announced its intention to participate in the privatization of Humo, one of the two payment systems in Uzbekistan. According to Uzbekistan’s State Assets Management Agency, eight companies submitted their bids, with six of them being selected for the next stage of the privatization process.

«At this time, we are not proceeding further in the process,» Kaspi.kz said in a statement.

Nevertheless, the company highlighted that Uzbekistan’s economy is rapidly developing...

Russia is reviewing a new export route to China through the territory of Kazakhstan, according to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, who attended the international forum «Sprouts: Russia and China – Mutually Beneficial Cooperation» as a speaker, the Interfax news agency reported.

«Along with our Chinese friends, we are reviewing another potential route via Kazakhstan, which may account for 35 billion cubic meters of gas,» Novak said.

The official noted that the project is in the initial stage of review. «This is just an idea that is being discussed.» Russia plans to transport gas...

Kazakhstan’s banks have dramatically increased the timescale for executing transactions with Russian companies, according to the Russian RBC news agency, citing representatives of transportation companies and lawyers. They claimed that the remittance of funds may take as long as two months. 

According to the sources, average transaction and payment processing times have increased by 24% compared to July. They suggest this may be due to stricter compliance checks, including enhanced risk assessments and sanctions screening, but they don’t elaborate on why this change occurred now. Kursiv.media has requested market participants to comment on the situation.

On top of that, Russian...

According to Timur Turlov, the founder and CEO of Freedom Holding Corp., current interest rates do not encourage banks to actively supply the economy with loans. Delivering a speech at the 12th Congress of Financiers of Kazakhstan in Almaty, he said that Kazakhstan’s financial system is in its comfort zone, which hinders the achievement of the country’s economic objectives.

«The banking system is once again in a state of absolute comfort — everything is fine, and there’s no need for any adjustments. However, I think, from a strategic perspective, we need to achieve the ambitious goal...

During the Congress of Financiers of Kazakhstan, the country’s National Bank announced the launch of a digital bullion coin in the first quarter of 2025. According to the regulator’s website, transactions with the coin will be available via the Tabys mobile app developed by the Astana International Exchange (AIX).

The coin’s value at any given moment is expected to be calculated in tenge based on three parameters: its weight, the gold price on the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) and the tenge-to-US dollar exchange rate established by the National Bank.

One will be able to buy the coins, sell them...

The Bank of China is increasingly blocking yuan transactions from Russia’s list of «friendly» countries, including Kazakhstan. This happens against the backdrop of strengthened compliance procedures aimed at avoiding secondary sanctions, according to RBC, a Russian news agency. Experts suggest that the exceptional caution of Chinese banks is a response to increased regulatory pressure and tightened international requirements.

Like many other financial institutions across the region, Chinese banks are tightening their control over transactions that might be linked to Russian counterparties or payments related to deliveries to Russia. Indicatively, the Chouzhou Bank and the Bank of China have blocked several...