News

Japan has imposed sanctions against Kazakhstani Elem Group, accusing it of breaching anti-Russian sanctions. Elem Group has been on the U.S. and the EU sanction lists since February 2024.

Along with Elem Group, Japan has also put on its sanction list ten companies from China, the UAE, India and Uzbekistan.

According to Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, Japan is freezing assets of those companies and banning any exports to them, the Russian Izvestiya newspaper reported.

What do we know about the sanctioned Kazakhstani company?

In February 2024, Elem Group was sanctioned by the European Union and the U.S. At the...

Freedom QJ League, promoting youth football in Kazakhstan, has signed an agreement with Red Bull, making the well-known global brand the league’s partner.

«As a league, we are going to cooperate with new partners whose names are well-known worldwide. We have already signed such an agreement with Mastercard. This company is one of the sponsors of the UEFA Champions League and now, they are supporting youth football as well. Today, we are proud to announce our partnership with Red Bull. We’re delighted that these global brands are paying attention to the development of youth football in...

The stock of Canadian eyewear and lens retailer KITS Eyecare rose by more than 6% on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The company announced the launch of a new line of daily contact lenses under its own brand.

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KITS Eyecare shares increased by 6.11% on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Wednesday, reaching CAD8.33. The company announced the launch of a line of daily silicone hydrogel contact lenses under its own brand, which will be priced “significantly lower” than comparable products.

In Canada, glasses and lenses can be obtained with a prescription, either with a co-payment or without...

The Ministry of Education and Freedom Holding Corp. have officially agreed to combine their efforts to create an educational marketplace to develop talents among children with the help of the «gentle encouragement method.» Within the framework of a memorandum the two sides have signed, they are going to promote the development of educational resources, the press service of the ministry said.

«We know that our educational system needs a single digital ecosystem to automate all the processes in the sphere of education. This is why the Ministry of Education with the support of Freedom Holding Corp...

Revolut, a British fintech startup founded by Nik Storonsky and Vlad Yatsenko, has decided to stop providing most of its services in Kazakhstan starting from July 20, 2024. This decision will affect Revolut Lite, the only product available in Kazakhstan.

«This wasn’t an easy decision to make and we want to thank you for your support and loyalty as a customer. We’ve made a strategic decision to focus on offering our full suite of services when launching a product in new markets. So, when we’re back, expect even more of what Revolut has to offer,» the...

National Information Technologies, JSC is going to export three program units of eGov to the Togolese Republic. The company has announced the move after signing licensing agreements with the Togo Digital Agency (Agence Togo Digital or ATD).

As the company clarified, under the contract it will transfer the showcase for services (Smart Bridge), the single platform of internet resources for public agencies and the information and analytical system Smart Data Ukimet. All of these will allow the ATD to boost the development of digital public services and promote public governance based on big data. The two sides have also agreed...

Kazakhstan plans to make a profit from processing and exporting the locusts to get rid of the insects and create an additional source of income, the APK Novosti news agency reported.

The media outlet cited research done by the Kazakh Research Institute for the Protection and Quarantine of Plants and scientists from Germany, who have proven that the locusts can be collected and paralyzed.

«More than two billion people in the world eat locusts. This means that the export of locusts as a food product has the potential for us,» said Chair of the National Agrarian...

Fintech company DeFi Technologies has raised concerns about potential market manipulation following the release of a report that caused its stock prices to plummet. The report, published earlier this week, claimed that DeFi Technologies’ stock price increases were solely due to marketing efforts. Following its publication, the company lost nearly 20% of its market value.

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DeFi Technologies announced that it has informed regulators in both the US and Canada about the potential manipulation of its shares. The report, published on June 18 by CoinSnacks.com—a site aimed at helping investors understand the crypto market—alleged that DeFi Technologies...

Eastern Europe and Uzbekistan have the potential for further expansion of Kaspi.kz, Mikhail Lomtadze, CEO and co-owner of the fintech company told Miguel Armaza, fintech investor and podcast host during New York Fintech Week.

«We are thinking about entering markets bigger than Kazakhstan. These include Eastern Europe; this region is very interesting for us; Asian markets are also attractive and Uzbekistan. This is a big market and it is very close to Kazakhstan, which is also very attractive,» Lomtadze said.

In Kazakhstan, roughly 15 million people use Kaspi.kz out of a population of 20 million...

David O’Sullivan, the International Special Envoy for the Implementation of EU Sanctions, said the European Commission is satisfied with the current level of cooperation and interaction with Kazakhstan, the Interfax news agency reported.

«As you know, this is my third visit [to Kazakhstan]. Our key concern is that Kazakhstan may become a source of re-export of sanctioned goods to Russia. We’ve noticed a significant increase in imports to Kazakhstan and are worrying that some of these goods might be redirected to Russia,» O’Sullivan said during a press conference in Astana.

Nevertheless, the EU envoy noted...

According to the Ministry of Digital Development, Kazakhstan will allocate $5 million to provide 2,000 schools in rural areas with access to satellite internet from Starlink. The government will pay $2,500 for each terminal from Elon Musk’s company, with a monthly access fee of $305.

«The company offers different solutions. We have decided to buy an enterprise solution that will cost us $2,500 per school with a $305 subscription. These devices have no expiration date and the company is ready to offer technical maintenance. All this equipment is under warranty and will be replaced if any...

June 11, 2024, is a date that BioSig Technologies shareholders, a developer of heart signal interpretation technology, will long remember. Nasdaq announced that it would delist its shares from the main listing effective June 12. Following this announcement, the company’s market capitalization plummeted by 70% in just a few hours. This is not the first upheaval in BioSig’s history. The company had previously been “on the edge of the cliff,” having lost part of its team and received a regulatory verdict stating that its development was not groundbreaking. However, it managed to recover. Will investors give it another...

Freedom Telecom will create a national data-sharing system to connect the western and eastern parts of the country. CEO of the company Kairat Akhmetov made this statement during the cabinet’s meeting.

«Let me bring to your attention the New Route project, a unique telecommunication corridor connecting China, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey and Europe. The new data route is not just another alternative; it is the foundation for a modern telecommunication infrastructure for swift and reliable data transfer,» Akhmetov said.

Within the project’s framework, the company will implement two key initiatives.

First, Freedom wants to build...

Zhaslan Madiyev, minister of digital development, has invited Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram to Kazakhstan. Earlier this month, Durov was spotted in the neighboring Kyrgyzstan.

«I know that he was at Issyk-Kul. I have met with his team in person. Even though I never met with Durov himself, I was assured that he’d received my invitation. I think he will visit our country,» Madiyev said.

The official also noted that there are some ideas worth discussing with Durov, such as the launch of joint labs.

Madiyev pointed out that Telegram is a high-tech company...

Even though the updated outlook of the country’s socio-economic development for 2025-2029 forecasts a 6% increase in the GDP this year, analysts from Halyk Finance have downgraded their forecast from 4.5% to 3.9% in 2024.

Analysts have become more skeptical after noticing capital investments plummeting in Kazakhstan. According to the Bureau of National Statistics, over the period from January to May 2024, capital investments dropped by 6.5% year-on-year.

Another factor that contributed to downgrading Halyk Finance’s outlook was a decline in oil production. In early June, Platts Market Center reported that Kazakhstan’s oil output dropped in May to its four-year...

Over the past year, insiders of IES Holdings, a designer and installer of integrated systems,  sold more than $150 million worth of company shares and did not purchase any, according to analysts at Simply Wall St. They warn that this could be a red flag. IES Holdings’ stock has been rising, gaining 152% over the last 12 months.

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Simply Wall St estimates that IES Holdings insiders sold $151.3 million worth of company shares over the past year and did not buy any. The most recent known transaction was made by IES Holdings CEO Jeffrey Gendell. On...

Halyk Finance has reviewed the new refinery industry concept for oil prepared by the Ministry of Energy and has become very skeptical about the agency’s plan to produce enough oil products for the domestic market by 2050. The company’s analysts also doubt that the ministry would be able to boost petroleum product exports to 10% by 2050.

According to Murat Temirkhanov, advisor to the CEO of Halyk Finance, the draft concept of the refinery industry development until 2050 doesn’t address key problems of the industry and directly contradicts the president’s edict on economic liberalization.

«The government...

Kazakhstan is going to continue using the +7 country code, the press service of the Ministry of Digital Development, Innovations and Aerospace Industry reported. The agency has decided not to switch to the +997 country code, which has been reserved for Kazakhstan since 2021, due to financial and technological issues that may emerge in the future.

«When we dived into the issue of switching to the new code in conjunction with operators, we realized that although it is possible, the switch may have some financial and technical consequences for us. Furthermore, all our operators would be...

American PepsiCo will allocate $160 million for a new potato chip manufacturing site in the Almaty region of Kazakhstan. This factory is going to be the biggest such project in Central Asia. The project is expected to create 1,000 jobs during the construction process and 350 permanent jobs after it is completed in 2026.

The country’s government says the manufacturing site will fully rely on local raw materials and boost the region’s development.

The project details were discussed by Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Olzhas Bektenov and David Manzini, president for Russia and CIS at PepsiCo, whereas the general arrangement on...

Sergek Group, an IT company from Kazakhstan, has won the nomination for «Best Smart Traffic Management Solution» at the Future Digital Awards for Smart Cities & IoT Innovation 2024. According to the company’s press release, Sergek presented its solutions for sustainable development and smart cities.

As CEO of Sergek Group Asset Akhmetov underlined, the company’s success in the contest proves that Kazakhstani IT solutions for smart cities are applicable worldwide. Despite competing against many well-known international companies, Sergek managed to secure second place after an American IT company won the platinum award.

«This win once again...

Shares of NewLake Capital Partners, a real estate firm specializing in properties for licensed cannabis producers, rose by 2% on Thursday, June 13. The company announced that it would pay a dividend of $0.43 per share for the second quarter of 2024.

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NewLake Capital Partners’ stock price increased by 2.08% on Thursday, June 13, on Nasdaq, reaching $19.65 per share. Over the past year, NewLake’s shares have gained 62.16%. However, since its initial trading in mid-2021, the stock has decreased by almost 30%.

On Thursday, NewLake announced a second-quarter dividend for 2024 amounting to $0.43 per share...

According to the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE), American sanctions against the Moscow Exchange (MOEX) won’t bring any legal consequences for KASE, as the Russian exchange controls just a small fraction of it.

On June 12, the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Department of the Treasury added the Moscow Exchange (MOEX) to its SDN list, which means all its accounts in American banks and depositories must be blocked, whereas US citizens and entities are prohibited from any sort of cooperation with the exchange. MOEX already announced that it would stop trading with US dollars and euros.

The U.S. government has put KBR-Technologii from Kazakhstan on its sanction list, accusing it of illegally supplying drone components to Russia. These dual-use goods were exported from Kazakhstan to Russia via Belarus, according to some media reports.

Interestingly enough, the company sanctioned by the U.S. Office of Foreign Asset Control of the Treasury Department (OFAC) was established on May 13, 2022, just a few months after the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. It was registered in North Kazakhstan, which is very close to Russia.

However, a registration number mentioned by OFAC indicates another company called MJ QAZAQ TRANS. It was...

According to Assel Marchenko, deputy head of the National Payment Corporation of Kazakhstan (NPCK), the agency isn’t going to develop any payment system similar to the Russian Mir.

«We have no plans related to the creation of any alternatives to Mir. We haven’t even thought about this,» Marchenko said in an interview with Kursiv.

In order to reduce the risk of secondary sanctions, the National Bank of Kazakhstan and the NPCK use the switching of card transactions. This project has been implemented to mitigate the risks for cardholders in Kazakhstan in conjunction with Mastercard, Visa...