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Bereke Bank has restored transactions with cards connected to the international payment system Visa. The banks did the same with cards by Mastercard in August.

Thus, the bank is currently rendering services for holders of cards by the two leading international payment systems. The bank’s clients are now offered a set of routine transactions with banking cards like paying in shops or online, withdrawing cash from ATMs and making money transactions in the tenge and foreign currency in Kazakhstan and worldwide.

By bringing back transactions with Visa cards, the bank has reached its goal of restoring its capabilities and can...

The Ministry of Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources of Kazakhstan isn’t interested in an out-of-court settlement of the issue related to a $5.1 billion fine with participants of the Kashagan project (NCOC), according to Yerlan Nyssanbayev, the head of the ministry.

«Today neither the government nor the ministry can influence the court’s decision. Anyway, we are going to wait for the court’s decision at the national and international level (if the NCOC participants decide to appeal to the international arbitrary – Kursiv). This is a dogma,» Nyssanbayev said.

As he noted, all legal lawsuits and trials are...

According to the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE), Kaspi Bank has obtained a license for custodial services from the Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market (ARDFM).

Once a bank has a license for custodial services, it can keep securities like a depository does. However, unlike a depository that provides standard services, a custodian can offer a more individual approach to its clients and can broaden the scope of its activities at the expense of new services.

The ARDFM issued its indefinite license for Kaspi on October 11. No other details were provided and at the moment of publication...

Alisher Suleymenov, a chess grandmaster from Pavlodar won the match against Magnus Carlsen, a five-time world chess champion, during the Qatar Open, according to the Kazakhstan Chess Federation (Kazchess).

How was the match going? According to Kazchess, the Norwegian champion, who is ranked more than 300 notches ahead of the grandmaster from Kazakhstan, was looking down at him as he didn’t consider Suleymenov a strong opponent.

«Carlsen made a set of perfunctory moves in the middle of the game and was immediately punished. On the 31st move Carlsen stopped the clock due to imminent losses,» the federation said...

Space X of Elon Musk is negotiating with the government of Kazakhstan as it wants to expand its presence in the country. So far, the company can’t do that due to obstacles in the national legislation of Kazakhstan, according to Bagdat Musin, the minister of digital development, innovations and aerospace industry. The minister commented on talks with Starlink on the sidelines of Digital Bridge 2023 in Astana.

What does Starling need to enter Kazakhstan’s market? As Musin noted, Starlink already covers the territory of Kazakhstan, although in order to let the company enter the local market, the government’s support and...

According to the Economic Research Institute (ERI), the lowering of the share of the working population is still a trend in Kazakhstan. This is going to affect the labor market and the country’s economy.

What is the statistical data showing? As the ERI reported, even though the working population has still been gradually increasing each year in absolute figures, this process is much slower than the increase in other age groups.

According to the Bureau of National Statistics, the number of people aged from 15 to 64 has risen this year by 9.7% (1.1 million) compared to 2010 and reached...

Over the first nine months of this year, KazTransOil has boosted the export of oil from the port of Aktau by 53% over the same period last year, according to the company’s website. This route is used for exports toward Baku (Azerbaijan) and Makhachkala (Russia).

Over the period from January to September, the port of Aktau exported 2.5 million tons of oil, including 990,200 tons to Baku (an 8.2-time increase by 870,000) and 1.5 million tons to Makhachkala (a 0.4% decline by 5,900 tons). 

The export toward Baku is even more impressive if the period from January to August is...

During the trading session on the Moscow Exchange on October 9, the exchange rate of the ruble broke a multi-month record by decreasing to 102.34 per U.S. dollar, according to the platform’s data.

At the time of publication, one U.S. dollar cost 102.08 rubles, which is 1.68 rubles or 1.6% higher than during the session on October 6. The last time the Russian ruble’s value dropped significantly was August 14, when the ruble exchange rate declined to 101.57 rubles per USD. The current exchange rate of the ruble is the lowest figure since March 2022, when Western countries imposed an...

The Russian bank VTB has transmitted a $1.8 billion debt in terms of two loans issued to KAZ Minerals to companies Finnaccord and City Invest 6, according to Kommersant, a Russian media outlet. It also noted that Finnaccord is owned by Oleg Novachuk, a co-owner of KAZ Minerals.

The transmission of the debt is directly related to the fact that VTB has been targeted with U.S. sanctions. KAZ Minerals is registered in the U.K. and can’t make any payments in the interest of the bank even if it is a payment on the loan. In this situation, there was a...

According to the press service of the Ministry for Emergency Situations, Kazakhstan has sent humanitarian aid to Afghanistan after it was hit by an earthquake. The cargo of medicine is expected to reach people in the devastated area today.

What did the ministry report? According to the agency, the country’s government decided to send humanitarian aid to Afghanistan which has been suffering from a recent earthquake.

«The government has donated food, tents, clothes and bedclothes,» the ministry said in a statement.

In total, the humanitarian aid includes 1,659 tons of 13 types of different goods.

Drugs and...

The Ministry of Finance of Kazakhstan is contemplating issuing Eurobonds in the summer of 2024. As Finance Minister Yerulan Zhamaubayev told the Interfax news agency, the cabinet was going to do so this summer but later changed its mind.

«Concerning Eurobonds, we do not plan to issue them this year. Most likely, it will happen next year. The most suitable period for that is the end of summer,» he said on the sidelines of the cabinet.

During the Astana International Forum in June, Zhamaubayev said that Kazakhstan was contemplating issuing Eurobonds in the fall of 2023. At...

The Kyrgyz parliament has ratified the agreement on establishing a joint regional system (JRS) of air defense with Russia, according to the press service of the Supreme Council of Kyrgyzstan.

What happened? Members of the Supreme Council approved the agreement on the establishment of a joint air defense system with Russia.

«In order to meet obligations under the agreement Kyrgyzstan will allocate a land parcel of five hectares near the Russian base in the town of Kant. It will be available as long the agreement is valid,» the agreement says.

The context. Russia controls several military facilities...

Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Alikhan Smailov hasn’t agreed with the report to the cabinet by Berik Sholpankulov, deputy head of the National Bank. He emphasized that the reduction in inflation was a result of coordinated anti-inflation work by the cabinet, not the National Bank as Sholpankulov said.

What did Sholpankulov report about? During the cabinet meeting, Sholpankulov talked about the results of the social and economic development of the country over the period from January to September 2023. While delivering his speech, he noted that the National Bank has lowered the base rate and tightened the monetary policy.

The growth of the gross domestic product (GDP) in Kazakhstan slowed down to 4.7% over the period from January to September compared to 4.9% from January to August, according to Alibek Kuantyrov, minister of the national economy of Kazakhstan.

«Over the period from January to September of this year, Kazakhstan’s GDP grew by 4.7% including growth in the real sector by 3.7% and 5.1% in the service sector,» he said during a cabinet meeting.

The construction, trade, information and communication sectors reported the highest rates of growth. Over the first nine months of this year, investments into...

The Russian chain of affordable shops Fix Price Group plans to redomicile from Cyprus to Kazakhstan. The company’s shareholders are going to discuss the issue on November 9, according to the company’s website.

«The company is going to change its location from the Republic of Cyprus to the Republic of Kazakhstan by registering as a legal entity at the Astana International Financial Center (AIFC). The company will be excluded from the Cyprus register of business,» Fix Price Group said.

Once the company is redomiciled, it will adopt its new charter and board of directors, appoint new officials...

According to Vedomosti, a Russian business newspaper, Russia is effectively driving out Kazakhstan from the Uzbekistani oil market.

«Over the period from January to June 2023, Kazakhstan exported 23,900 tons of oil and about 10,000 tons of gas condensate to Uzbekistan by railway. This was the lowest rate of oil export over the entire history on record (no details about the timeline available), according to a survey by Argus. The State Customs Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan confirms the negative dynamic of supply, although the figures aren’t necessarily the same. According to the agency, over the first...

Kazakhstan has expressed «deep concerns» about the escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that has already led to many casualties among civilians and called on the parties to de-escalate and begin political dialog, according to Aibek Smadiarov, official spokesperson of the country’s foreign ministry.

What did Smadiarov say? The spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Kazakhstan is concerned about the situation in the Middle East and urged the parties of the conflict to seek a peaceful solution to the problem.

«Kazakhstan expresses deep concern over the serious aggravation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which has already caused...

Timur Turlov, CEO and majority shareholder of Freedom Holding Corp. (FRHC), has commented on the situation with investigations into the holding’s activities by the U.S. Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reported by CNBC. As he wrote on Instagram, the only goal of ill-wishers is to put together negative information, while their main weapon is «scandal narrative and blatant manipulation of facts.»

On Friday, October 6, CNBC reported that the SEC’s Boston regional office has been probing FRHC for months, citing «documents the outlet has seen and people familiar with the matter.»

As Turlov explained...

According to Health Minister Azhar Giniyat, several cases of Eris, a subvariant of the Omicron COVID-19 variant were reported in Kazakhstan.

Where have new Omicron subvariants been identified? As the minister said, coronavirus is mutating and circulating throughout Kazakhstan. The last genetic surveys showed that the new COVID-19 variant Eris emerged in the country.

«All variants of Omicron cause mild symptoms. So far, there are 35 people in hospitals. These are elderly with concurrent diseases,» Giniyat said.

Does the country possess enough vaccines? According to the health minister, Kazakhstan possesses enough PCR tests and vaccines produced by...

The National Bank of Kazakhstan has lowered the base rate from 16.5% to 16%. This decision was made today during a meeting on monetary policy. At the same time, the regulator said that the base rate will likely remain the same until the end of this year.

«Due to the current decision and the balance of risks, there is not much room for further lowering of the base rate in 2023. We will be ready to consider further softening of monetary policy if annual inflation decreases to a single-digit figure,» the National Bank said in a statement.

The business activity index (BAI) has declined for three months in a row in Kazakhstan. Over the period from June to September of 2023 the index dropped by 2.1 points from 51.1 to 49, according to the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE).

The BAI is an indicator that characterizes the state of the economy in the real sector and allows you to explore the dynamics of economic trends as well as critical and turning points of the business cycle. In September, the exchange asked representatives of 519 big, small and medium-sized businesses from all sectors of the economy. When BAI is...

According to President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the capacity of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) will be increased to 80 million tons of oil per year by 2024.

«Since 2001, the Caspian Pipeline Consortium has exported more than 860 million tons of Kazakhstani oil. During this period, the capacity of the CPC has increased 2.5 times and reached 67 million tons a year. We are going to boost this rate to 80 million tons by 2024,» he said during a ceremony for the 30th anniversary of the presence of Shell in Kazakhstan.

As Tokayev noted, the country needs not...

According to Almasadam Satkaliyev, minister of energy of Kazakhstan, refineries in Turkmenistan and China are going to obtain licenses from the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) in order to be able to supply oil products to the EEU member states, including Kazakhstan.

«As far as I know, some refineries are eager to be certified under EAEU standards. Currently, among those potential suppliers are refineries from Turkmenistan and China. This process is still going on, though,» he said at a press conference.

As the official noted, any foreign refinery that wants to enter the EEU market should be certified...

According to Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov, the government of Kazakhstan is going to establish a new fund to support the domestic defense industry.

Why is a new fund needed? Alikhan Smailov said that as a country, Kazakhstan needs a robust industrial skeleton, citing the address to the nation President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev delivered in September. That is why the government will establish a new defense industry fund to support local producers by the end of this year.

What did President Tokayev say in his address? In early September, Tokayev said that creating defense production of a full cycle locally is «the...