News

An oil refinery in Bulgaria run by Russian oil company Lukoil has boosted imports of Kazakhstani oil after the country was banned from purchasing oil from Russia, according to Vedomosti, a Russian business media outlet.

In May 2024, Kazakhstan became the biggest oil supplier in Bulgaria as Lukoil Neftohim Burgas was purchasing about 80,400 barrels of Kazakhstani high-sulfur oil Kebco and a lighter CPC Blend per day, which was an eightfold increase compared to January.

Overall, in May, the facility acquired 130,000 barrels per day, the highest rate since the beginning of the year. However, the refinery’s capacity is much...

SOVICO Group, an investment company from Vietnam, is going to acquire Qazaq Air, according to President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. He made this statement while speaking at the closing ceremony of the Kazakhstan-Singapore Business Forum in Singapore.

«I am hailing the privatization of our Qazaq Air by the Vietnamese SOVICO Group as it will be a real booster for air travel between Kazakhstan and the ASEAN countries,» Tokayev stated. 

The current owner of the airline Samruk Kazyna had tried to sell Qazaq Air for a while. In August 2023, the holding announced its first bidding in an...

According to Gulbanu Maigarina, head of the Central Asian Association of Franchising, investors from Central Asia are interested in purchasing franchises from Kazakhstani companies to build their businesses based on successful business models.

«A relatively large quantity of Kazakhstani companies have franchises in Central Asian states. For instance, Lanzhou has franchises in five countries, including Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Uzbekistan and Russia account for the vast majority of Kazakhstani franchises,» the expert said.

On May 22, an international summit of franchise associations from Turkic states was held in Astana. Guests from Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey and...

Freedom Bank plans to combine about 30 apps from its services in one closed financial ecosystem called Freedom Bridge. Once the move is done, all subsidiaries of Freedom Holding Corp. will become neobanks, according to Aidos Zhumagulov, adviser to the chair of the board of directors in Freedom Bank.

«As a bank, we are developing a bridge project called Bank-as-a-Service. Once it is done, we will be able to expand our financial services in every company based on Open API. We want to enrich the holding’s ecosystem with our financial products. The group has both financial...

Lesha Bank, an investment bank from Qatar has closed the deal related to the acquisition of Bereke Bank, according to a statement published on the Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) website. Even though as of April 1, the Kazakhstani bank had $367.2 million in its capital, the deal value was equal to just 39.8% of that sum.

Neither side officially reported the deal, although it was closed on March 31. Two weeks before that date, Madina Abylkassymova, chair of the Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market of the Republic of Kazakhstan (ARDFM) revealed that negotiations between Lesha Bank...

CEO of Halyk Bank Umut Shayakhmetova believes that only reducing the base rate can supply the demand for long money the country needs for modernization and development. She made this statement while speaking at the conference «Financial Sector of Kazakhstan: 25 Years of Strategic Challenges.»

«It’s not an easy task to find borrowers if the base rate is high. Even though there is a big demand for long money for economic modernization and development, we are seeing fewer projects now and are mainly lending money to the trade for no longer than twelve months. We are...

According to President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) should be constantly focusing on the fight against the «three forces of evil» – terrorism, separatism and extremism. He made this statement during a meeting with foreign ministers from the SCO member states.

«Kazakhstan is fully committed to expanding our cooperation in this sphere. The cooperation program on the fight against terrorism, separatism and extremism is a practical step in this direction,» the president highlighted.

He also noted that the SCO Anti-Drug Strategy will promote mutual actions aimed at countering drugs and financial...

Bekzhan Pirmatov, CEO of Forte Bank, and Umut Shayakhmetova, CEO of Halyk Bank, do not think that the arrival of foreign banks is a magic pill for Kazakhstan’s banking sector. Newcomers are probably bound to lend money to businesses and consumers at higher rates than their local competitors. Here are some quotations from the executives’ speeches at the conference «Financial Sector of Kazakhstan: 25 Years of Strategic Challenges.»

The issue was discussed against the backdrop of reports about the acquisition of Bereke Bank by Lesha Bank from Qatar. Even though the deal was closed on March 31, the Qatar Stock...

President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov addressed the nation over unrest that triggered the mass exodus of Pakistani students out of the country.

According to the president, all the disorder was provoked by some politicians who are serving their sentences in jail. He warned that next time law enforcement officers will receive an order to apply force to counter rioters.

As Japarov mentioned, on May 13, police detained several people involved in a violent but limited incident. However, on May 18, «some forces interested in getting the situation more acute» disseminated «fake news about the incident» adding fuel to the conflict.

The Kazakhstani transportation business will obtain an additional number of permits for transporting freight to Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. The Ministry of Transport expects this move to boost the commodity turnover between Kazakhstan and the Baltic states. 

«Currently, Kazakhstani carriers need more permits for cargo transportation from European countries. We have already distributed among Kazakhstani transport companies more than 70% of permits we had obtained from Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia earlier this year,» said Transport Minister of Kazakhstan Marat Karabayev. 

To solve the problem, Kazakhstan approached the three Baltic states with a request for additional permits. As...

The Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market (ARDFM) wants insurance companies to ensure that the confidential data of their customers is safe. The corresponding draft regulation will be available on legalacts.egov.kz for public consideration until May 28.

If the new regulation is adopted, the agency will oblige insurance companies to follow banks and microfinance organizations and embrace the same security measures.

For instance, any registration in a mobile or web application should be conducted with the help of biometric authentication. The same procedure must be applied during the password change, while two-stage authentication is expected to be...

According to Senator Ali Bektayev, high recycling fees that farmers have to pay while purchasing new agricultural machinery have made them reluctant to upgrade their machinery. They prefer using their outdated and worn-out tractors and combines. On the other hand, farmers can’t afford Kazakhstani-made machinery as local producers heavily rely on expensive foreign details. 

«As of 2024, a recycling fee for a tractor varies from $835 to $16,680 and from $3,606 to $18,708 for a combine. These are significant sums for farmers. As a result, many farms stopped buying new machinery and switched to dismantling old vehicles for...

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has appointed Aset Irgaliyev, the former assistant to the president for economic affairs, as Permanent Representative of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the WTO and International Economic Organizations.

By the president’s same edict, Zhanar Aitzhan, who held this position before, was dismissed. 

Irgaliyev had worked in the president’s administration since September last year. Over his career, he also worked in Samruk Kazyna’s board of directors, the state economic commission under the president of Kazakhstan, the board of directors of the Baiterek holding and the Supreme Council for Reforms under the president. Since December 2023, he’s served as deputy head...

Over the period from January to April 2024, the volume of maritime shipment via the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR or the Middle Corridor) grew by 15%. The transit of container cargo from China to Europe has risen by 3.4 times, according to the Ministry of Transport.

Furthermore, the agency also reported an increase in motor freight transportation via the port of Kuryk and containers via the Aktau Port. This year the Ministry of Transport plans to deepen the bottom of the port of Kuryk to make it suitable for massive ships. The main work on the project is expected...

There are three refineries in Kazakhstan (in Atyrau, Pavlodar and Shymkent). According to some media outlets, Russian Lukoil is interested in acquiring the Atyrau refinery, while another Russian giant Gazprom is thinking about purchasing the oil processing plant in Pavlodar. In an interview with Inbusiness.kz, Chair of the Antimonopoly Agency of Kazakhstan Marat Omarov commented on the issue.

«We analyzed how our refineries work and have come to the conclusion that private investors can play a crucial role in the refinery’s business when they have a stake in it. I am not talking about the control...

The Kazakhstan Association of Oil-Gas and Energy Sector Organizations (Kazenergy) has proposed that large companies, including those from the oil and gas industry, supply their electricity surplus to the national grid system at cost price.

«Tengizchevroil (TCO) and NCOC have provided the national grid operator KEGOG with their reserve power capacity on several occasions over the past few years. As you probably know, under the product sharing agreements big subsoil users can sell electricity neither to customers nor third-party organizations. Kazenergy is suggesting large companies consider if it is possible to supply their reserve power capacity to the national grid...

President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has instructed the country’s cabinet to boost commodity turnover with China from $40 billion last year to $100 billion. He made this statement during his meeting with Vice Premier of the State Council of China Liu Guozhong, who has come to Kazakhstan on an official visit. According to President Tokayev, boosting commodity turnover by 2.5 times is «quite achievable.» He hasn’t revealed any timelines for this task, though.

«I am very pleased to say that the comprehensive strategic partnership and eternal friendship between Kazakhstan and China has been rapidly developing with...

According to Samruk Kazyna Chair Nurlan Zhakupov, CEO of the KazMunayGas (KMG) national oil company Magzum Mirzagaliyev has resigned from office.

The company also reported that the company is currently headed by Askhat Khasenov, a former vice energy minister who will remain KMG’s acting CEO until the shareholders’ general meeting.

The head of the holding thanked Mirzagaliyev for his work as the head of the oil company.

Mirzagaliyev was appointed the chair of the company by Samruk Kazyna’s board in April 2022. He’s been in charge of the oil company for more than two years.

Over his career, Mirzagaliyev served...

According to Vice Minister of Industry and Construction Azamat Beispekov, Kazakhstan wants to launch industrial production of drones in conjunction with South Korea. He told this to The Korea Herald. 

«Everyone knows that South Korea is one of the global leaders in terms of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). We want not only to acquire drones from you but cooperate with you and share knowledge and skills,» Beispekov said.

He believes Kazakhstan can become a UAV center in Central Asia if it expands its cooperation with South Korea. Drones have a wide range of applications and...

Zhongman Petroleum and Gas Group Corp. (ZPEC) said it is ready to drill two exploration wells in the Pribrezhnoe field in the Atyrau region 100 kilometers southwest of Kulsary. The company purchased the rights for the exploration and production of hydrocarbons at the field in July 2022, when Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Energy conducted an auction for the field. At the time, the Chinese company paid $3 million for the field, the starting price of which was $20,863. Some lots, like Shalva Severo Zapadnyi, for example, were bought at the starting price of $20,863. All in all, the government earned $47.9 million...

The National Bank of Kazakhstan has interviewed 3,400 enterprises from all over the country and found that competition is the key obstacle to doing business according to 31.4% of respondents.

Among other obstacles the respondents mentioned the overall condition of Kazakhstan’s economy (30.9%); the tax level (28.1%); a lack of qualified staff (26.3%); the search for customers (25.1%); complexity of obtaining licenses and permissions (16.6%); complexity of debit debt returning (14.9%) and access to financing (14.4%).

In similar surveys over the past years, the condition of the economy was always ahead of market competition in terms of the number of respondents’ replies...

Carlsberg Kazakhstan has lost the case related to the brand of Baltika in the court of appeals. In late January, the Russian court banned Carlsberg from using this label in Kazakhstan and five other CIS countries. In March, the Kazakhstani division of the Dutch company appealed to the St. Petersburg arbitration court. However, on May 14, the court of appeals decided to uphold the verdict of the lower court.

Carlsberg Group announced its plan to sell Baltika Brewery, its main Russian asset, in late June 2023. However, in July, President of Russia Vladimir Putin signed an edict demanding the Federal...

KazMunayGas (KMG), the national oil company in Kazakhstan, will allocate $154 million to redevelop the Uzen and Karamandybas oil fields in the Mangystau region, the company’s press services reported.

Once the rehabilitation project is completed, the fields’ output will gradually increase to 5.2-5.5 million tons a year. This year, the company plans to produce an additional 136,000 tons of oil, while its ultimate goal is to extract 19 million tons of oil from 2023 to 2036.

«In 2023, we invested $38.5 million in the project and $115.5 million this year. In 2024, we have to implement...

In 2023, First Heartland Securities bought 1.4 million shares of Jusan Bank worth $641,221 from minority shareholders, according to an audited financial statement for 2023. The report has been published on the KASE website.

As of December 31, 2023, the key shareholders of Jusan Bank were the following:

First Heartland Securities – 79.63% (78.73% as of the end of 2022);

Galimzhan Yessenov – 20.11% (no changes compared to 2022);

Other shareholders – 0.25% (previously 1.16%).

At the same time, First Heartland Securities itself is controlled by Galimzhan Yessenov. In the summer of 2023, he took over 97.98% of First Heartland...