News

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...

The Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation of the Republic of Kazakhstan has reached an arrangement with Uzbekistan about the supply of 922 million cubic meters of water to the southern regions of Kazakhstan. The water will be delivered by the Dostyk interstate canal during the 2024 irrigation season.  

These arrangements were reached during the 86th meeting of the Interstate Coordination Commission for Water Management combining Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, attended by Kazakhstan’s Water Resources Minister Nurzhan Nurzhigitov. 

«The minister has successfully negotiated the supply of 922 million cubic meters of water to Kazakhstan through the...

Aiaru Altynbek, a 13-year-old chess player from Kazakhstan, has won a gold medal at the FIDE World School Championship in Lima, Peru.

«Even though Aiaru secured the first place for herself ahead of the final game she continued to push and won. With a score of 8½, she played nine match games and outperformed her competitor by 1.5 points,» the Kazakhstan Chess Federation (Kazchess) said in a statement. 

Felow Kazakhstani Iman Nabiyev (1,636, #8 in the ranking) has won a bronze medal in the age category under 9 years. Iman scored 7½ points like his...

Two-thirds of Kazakhstanis (69.2%) do not have personal savings, while 79% of respondents failed to save money last month, according to a survey by the National Bank of Kazakhstan.

In its survey, the regulator interviewed 1,500 adults in the cities of Astana, Almaty and Shymkent as well as regional centers throughout the country.

More than half of respondents said that their financial status hasn’t changed over the last month, while a third of interviewed people noted that their finances have worsened. At the same time, 35.4% of Kazakhstanis believe that their financial status will improve in the space of a...

KazMunayGas (KMG) and Bluewater Energy Services B.V. from the Netherlands have officially agreed to cooperate in the sphere of future projects related to single-point mooring (SPM), according to the press service of KMG.

«The document was signed by CEO of KMG Magzum Mirzagaliyev and Vice President of Bluewater Energy Services Michel Bonte. The agreement is aimed at facilitating efforts to expand Kazakhstani oil exports. Under the signed document, technical experts of Bluewater are going to share their international experience and teach Kazakhstani specialists to implement SPM projects in the Caspian Sea and Black Sea,» the company said in a statement.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky discharged the 50-year-old former Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi from military service and has appointed him the new Ukrainian Ambassador to the U.K.

«To discharge General Valerii Zaluzhnyi from military service due to his health condition with the right to wear military uniform… To appoint Valerii Zaluzhnyi Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the United Kingdom,» says the president’s edict published on the official website of the president of Ukraine.

This winter, the Ukrainian media reported that the medical commission found Zaluzhnyi’s health not good enough to continue his military service.

In March...

According to Energy Minister of Kazakhstan Almasadam Satkaliyev, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan want to export their green energy to Europe via Azerbaijan. The cost of the project will be revealed by the end of this year.

«We are talking about quite a big amount of investments. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan can export 7 and 5 gigawatts, respectively. I mean, this is the entire wind potential of the Caspian Plain and the Aral Sea area. We are already preparing the feasibility study. This work is expected to be done by the end of this year. We will better understand...

Forbes Kazakhstan has published its annual rating of the richest Kazakhstani businessmen. This year, the list includes 75 people with a combined fortune of $46.6 billion. This figure is equal to 17.65% of the country’s GDP. 

In the global list of the richest people the «national team» of Kazakhstani moguls would take 26th place right after American billionaire Charles Koch and his family, who made their fortune in oil trading and refinery. 

Even though the current rating of Kazakhstani rich people includes many of those who pop up on the list every year, ten newcomers were added, like Arsen Tomsky...

President of Russia Vladimir Putin has instructed his generals to conduct military exercises with tactical nuclear weapons. According to the Ministry of Defense of Russia, these measures have been undertaken in response to «provocative statements and threats by certain Western officials toward Russia.»

«To ensure non-strategic nuclear forces are ready for combat, the general staff has started preparations for military exercises with rocket divisions of the Southern Military District, air force and navy. The exercises will be conducted shortly,» the ministry said in a statement.

In late February, President of France Emmanuel Macron suggested that Western countries...

In April, the National Fund of Kazakhstan shrank by an additional $1.1 billion from $64.9 billion to $64.4 billion, the Ministry of Finance’s data showed. 

Overall, the National Fund has shrunk by $1.0 billion since the beginning of the year when the fund had $65.5 billion in it. In January, it shrank by $299 million before increasing by $265 million in February and then shrinking again by $597 million in March.

Over the past four months, the National Fund received $3.9 billion, including $676 million in April. Almost all this money was tax payments from the oil industry. 

From January...

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has appointed Zhaslan Madiyev, general manager of Binance Kazakhstan, as the new head of the Ministry of Digital Development, according to the Akorda. Ex-Digital Minister Bagdat Musin was removed from office on April 30. 

«The president has appointed Zhaslan Madiyev as the new minister of digital development, innovations and aerospace industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan,» the president’s press service said in a statement.

Madiyev was born on June 13, 1983. He graduated from the Kazakh National University named after al Farabi with a degree in Global Economics and International Finances. He also studied...

Central banks acquired 16 tons of gold in March. Kazakhstan was the third biggest gold buyer in the world outpacing Russia’s net buying by just one ton. The country has also become the leading gold buyer in Central Asia, according to the World Gold Council (WGC).

«Demand [from central banks] remained healthy: monthly gross purchases were steady at 40 tons month-on-month, partly offset by gross sales of 25 tons,» WGC said.

The agency’s survey also showed that major buyers were from emerging markets. For instance, the Central Bank of Turkey added the most gold during...

The Foreign Ministry of Kyrgyzstan has recommended the country’s citizens avoid visiting the Russian Federation. This warning comes out against the backdrop of media reports about Russian authorities refusing to allow many Kyrgyz citizens to enter the country.

«The ministry is once again recommending its fellow citizens to temporarily abstain from vising Russia if there is no urgency until all additional security measures and increased border control are lifted,» the agency said in a statement. 

The MFA, however, noted that neither the ministry nor its consulates haven’t received information about Russia not allowing Kyrgyzstani citizens...

Acquiring property is one of the three most popular investment strategies for Kazakhstanis. The vast majority of them would prefer to buy an apartment in one of the country’s big cities to lease it to tenants for a 25% interest rate per annum at least, according to a survey by United Research Technologies Group (URTG). 

Almost one in three (27.4%) out of 1,600 respondents in Kazakhstan interviewed by URTG this spring consider investments in real estate as the most reliable way to save their money. However, only 41.1% of them have savings for such an investment. Furthermore, only one in...

Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and the Taliban movement have agreed to build a logistical center in West Afghanistan, Reuters reported. The Talibs hope they benefit from this hub if Russia exports its oil to South Asia, in particular to Pakistan. 

According to Minister of Commerce and Industry of Afghanistan Nooruddin Azizi, the parties will prepare an official agreement within two months. He also said that this logistical hub will be able to accept up to one million tons of oil at the initial stage.

«The logistical center will be established in the Herat province. It will connect North and South...

The Senate, the upper house of the Kazakhstani parliament, has extended a contract between Russia and Kazakhstan on the transit of Russian oil to China through the territory of Kazakhstan. Over the period from 2024 to 2033, the country is expected to earn $1.7 billion.

In December 2013, the governments of Kazakhstan and Russia signed an agreement regulating oil transit to China. From 2014 to 2023, Russia exported 7 million tons of oil to China via this route.

In February 2023, Russian Rosneft and Chinese CNPC signed an agreement on the export of 100 million tons of Russian oil to...

According to the U.S. Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC), it has added GDK Baimskaya to its Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (SDN) list. This means that no U.S. residents can cooperate with the company, while all its banking accounts in the U.S. should be blocked.  

GDK Baimskaya is controlled by Trianon Limited, a private company registered at the Astana International Financial Center and belonging to Vladimir Kim (890th place in the global Forbes list with a fortune of $3.6 billion or 1st place with $4.6 billion, according to Forbes Kazakhstan) and Oleg Novachuk (ranked 13th in the local rating with a fortune...

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has instructed General Prosecutor Berik Assylov to continue the search for assets illegally withdrawn from Kazakhstan and reclaim them, according to the Akorda.

During a meeting with Tokayev on April 30, Assylov told the president that the General Prosecutor’s Office has been using artificial intelligence to reclaim illegally withdrawn assets and search for criminals.

For instance, the agency is testing a smart analytical platform for searching and tracking illegally withdrawn assets. In addition, law enforcement officials detained 605 people who were on the wanted list. All of this happened with the help of different tools, including information systems.

In 2023, the gross regional product in Almaty grew by 10%, reaching $56.1 billion, a record-high number over the past ten years, according to the city’s administration. As a result, the city’s share in the national GDP has risen to 20.6%.

The rapid economic development of Almaty has let the city downgrade the unemployment rate from 5% in 2022 to 4.8% in 2023. Small and medium-sized businesses provide jobs to 949,000 people (90%). In 2023, these businesses issued products worth $47.3 billion, which is a 15.8% increase over 2022.

Last year, the number of active businesses reached 340,000 (+16.2%). Since...

According to the press service of Kazakhstan’s cabinet, Kazakhstan will cooperate with Afghanistan to explore its soil for useful minerals. The two countries have already agreed to establish a joint technical committee to implement a set of geological projects in Afghanistan.

«At the initial stage, the Afghani side is expected to give over its maps of all promising natural deposits and corresponding scientific data to Kazakhstan,» the press service said in a statement.

A wide range of issues related to geological exploration and production of useful minerals was discussed by Vice Prime Minister of Kazakhstan...

According to Deputy Chairman of the Financial Monitoring Agency (FMA) Ulan Raisov, the task of proving that illegal money withdrawal was an intentional move is a very hard task as law enforcement agencies have only 15 days to check on a suspicious transaction and get a conclusion from the National Bank and the State Revenue Committee.

As the official noted, the country is countering the illegal withdrawal of assets through internal compliance in banks, a special division that analyzes financial operations. If specialists in these divisions think that a transaction is suspicious, they report it directly to the FMA.