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The amount of international reserves in Kazakhstan has been gradually decreasing since 2020, reaching $35.6 billion as of December 2023. This is enough to cover a six-month import, which is twice as big as the standard but still lower than in many other developing countries, including neighboring ones, according to Halyk Finance.

According to the company’s analysts, Kazakhstan’s international reserves are gradually depleting due to various external shocks and ongoing problems with the state budget and payment balance.

«It definitely would be a good idea for the government to regularly assess their international reserves to cover...

The Russian Tatneft has acquired 50% shares of Karaton Operating Ltd., which supervises the Karaton Podsolevoy project, from KazMunayGas (KMG), the national oil company in Kazakhstan.

«Under the purchase and sale agreement, KMG sells 50% shares of Karaton Operating Ltd. (operator of the Karaton Podsolevoy project) to the Russian Tatneft. The documents were signed by Chair of the Board of KMG Magzum Mirzagaliyev and Director General of Tatneft Nail Maganov,» the company said in a statement, not mentioning any details of the deal.

As Mirzagaliyev noted, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has ordered the cabinet to attract...

The Ministry of Digital Development, Innovations and Aerospace Industry plans to lease or acquire the infrastructure necessary for the creation of a supercomputer. The cost of the project is still the subject of discussion.

According to the Digital Ministry, the main purpose of the supercomputer is to facilitate the development of artificial intelligence (AI) in Kazakhstan. The new AI system is necessary for the creation of Kaz LLM (large language model) and might be used in different economic sectors such as IT, finance, healthcare, energy and manufacturing. Currently, the ministry is trying to launch close cooperation with tech companies and...

According to KZ-CERT, the national Computer Emergency Response Team in Kazakhstan, a group of Chinese hackers had access to the infrastructure of Kazakhstani telecommunication operators for two years.

As CERT noted, this month unknown people published secret data leaked from iSoon (aka Anxun), one of the contractors of the Ministry of Public Security of China, on GitHub. According to this data, at least one Chinese hacker group had full access to the critical infrastructure of Kazakhstani telecommunication operators over the past two years.

«Attackers were interested in both general information such as databases and more specific...

The National Bank of Kazakhstan is going to announce its next decision on the base rate on February 23. Currently, the rate is at 15.25%. The vast majority of experts believe that the base rate will be lowered by 25 basis points, while others anticipate as much as 50 to 100 b.p.

Usually, the lowering of the base rate leads to cheaper loans for regular consumers and businesses. According to 67% of experts interviewed by the Association of Financiers of Kazakhstan in February, the base rate will be decreased by 25 b.p. (to 15%). The remaining experts say that the...

Freedom Telecom, a subsidiary of Freedom Holding Corp., is conducting pilot testing for Wi-Fi 7, a new technology that supports fast internet, as it plans to boost the speed of wireless internet connection by six to 30 times. Within a new Wi-Fi network, the speed of an internet connection surpasses three gigabits per second compared to 100-500 megabits per second provided by almost all Kazakhstani operators.

With high internet speed users will be able to download and transfer large amounts of data, conduct video streaming in high quality and play video games with no latency.

A new Wi-Fi network can...

Kazakhstan and South Korea are planning to boost the number of flights between each other and launch several new ones. According to the Civil Aviation Committee of Kazakhstan (CAC), Vice Minister of Transport Talgat Lastayev has started negotiations with T’Way, a South Korean low-cost airline.

As the CAC noted, the two sides want to boost the number of flights for two destinations: Astana – Seoul and Almaty – Seoul. Moreover, new flights from Shymkent to the capital city of South Korea and from Busan to several Kazakhstani cities will emerge. This information was revealed after a meeting of Lastayev with...

Experts of Halyk Finance have cast doubt on the government’s plan to reach economic growth at 6% this year; the plan was announced at a cabinet meeting recently. The experts point out low labor efficiency and the huge role of the government in the country’s economy.

In January, economic growth slowed to 3.9% year-on-year as many industries reported a decline, as Minister of National Economy Nurlan Baibazarov said in mid-February. In 2023, Kazakhstan’s economy grew by 5.1%.

«At the end of last year, we injected the economy with cash from the National Fund but the positive...

The World Bank’s Pandemic Fund has provided Kazakhstan a three-year grant of $46 million, according to the country’s health ministry.

«Kazakhstan has become one of 36 countries in the World Health Organizartion (WHO) European Region provided with a country grant of $19 million and a multicounty grant of $27 million for three years,» the ministry said in a statement.

This money will be allocated for improving epidemiological control, border control, lab safety, a system of early identification and response, and training for personnel. The WHO Country Office in Kazakhstan is going to coordinate the implementation...

According to Energy Minister of Kazakhstan Almasadam Satkaliyev, Germany is interested in boosting Kazakhstan’s oil exports up to 200,000 tons per month; the oil goes to Germany via the Druzhba main oil pipeline. Over the period from May to October 2023, Kazakhstan exported about 100,000 tons of oil to Germany per month. In November, exports increased to 154,000 tons. In general, the EU accounted for more than half of all oil Kazakhstan exported last year (46.6 million tons). The minister revealed this data during his interview with the Adevural newspaper from Romania.

«In 2023, Kazakhstan exported...

According to the Association of Financiers of Kazakhstan (AFK), over the period from 2019 to 2023, the growth of the consolidated budget of Kazakhstan (state and local budgets plus transfers and spending of the National Fund) was lagging behind the increase in spending by 87 percentage points. This is why the government constantly increased the amount of its borrowing (by 1.7 times to $12.2 billion) and the size of transfers from the National Fund ($40.4 billion over the five years).

Sources of income for the budget

Over the past five years, there have been no significant changes in the consolidated...

Knauf Gruppe, GP Günter Papenburg AG and Roxtec, leading German companies, have established a consortium in order to explore and produce lithium in Kazakhstan, according to the Ministry of Industry and Construction of the Republic of Kazakhstan. German Institute for Technologies and Economics of Lithium (ITEL) will also take part in the project.

The consortium participants have already established a working group that is expected to review the potential of Kazakhstani lithium reserves.

In June 2023, HMS Bergbau AG, another German company, agreed to cooperate with Kazakhstan’s Creada Corporation and allocate $200 million in investments for lithium exploration in the...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed an order allowing Baring Vostok (the biggest shareholder of Kazakhstani fintech group Kaspi.kz) to sell its biggest Russian assets as part of splitting the business. The Ozon marketplace, which entered Kazakhstan’s market in 2021, is one of several companies mentioned in the official published document.

This permission is the latest stage of the deal aimed at the splitting of Baring Vostok’s business into two parts: the international business and the Russian one. Under the arrangement with Russian authorities, the Russian part of the business or Vostok Investments will be supervised by local executives of...

The UN World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has placed Kazakhstan in the 81st position in its Global Innovation Index and third among Central and South Asia after India and Iran. There are 132 countries on the index.  Last year, Kazakhstan was 83rd.

The country was prized for its government’s online services (8th position in the rating), E-participation (15th position), females employed with advanced degrees (32nd), QS university ranking (33rd position), tertiary enrolment (35th) and high-tech exports (36th position).

On the other hand, Kazakhstan’s efforts weren’t as impressive in the field of software spending x`(124th position), state of cluster development (118th...

QazaqGas, the national gas company in Kazakhstan and UCC Holding from Qatar have decided to work together to build natural gas processing plants on the Kashagan field. The arrangement followed negotiations between President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Emir of Qatar Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, according to the Akorda.kz website.

«After negotiations between President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Emir of Qatar Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, QazaqGas, JSC and UCC Holding have signed the agreement aimed at joint implementation of projects related to the construction of the gas processing plants on the Kashagan oil...

After the public initial offering (IPO) of Air Astana, the share of British BAE Systems dropped from 49% to 15.3% which won’t affect the airline’s suspension of air travel with Russia, according to the company’s CEO Peter Foster.

«In fact, the March 2022 decision to stop flights to, from or above the Russian Federation has nothing to do with the shareholder structure. This is related to the insurance of aircraft, carrying of flights to Russia, technical maintenance of aircraft in Russian airports and other technical issues. The company’s IPO doesn’t change anything,» he told Kursiv.media while...

The National Fund has two portfolios: stabilization and savings. The National Bank, which manages the fund’s assets, invests them in various instruments, including stocks, bonds, gold and alternative instruments.

«The assets of the stabilization portfolio are primarily invested in money market instruments in developed economies. Meanwhile, assets from the savings portfolio are strategically allocated and diversified across classes, markets and currencies. They encompass stocks from developed markets, gold, alternative instruments, corporate bonds and public bonds from developed and developing countries,» the National Bank said.

Stocks account for 33% of the portfolio, followed by bonds from...

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has acquired a 5% stake in Air Astana. This investment, totaling $42 million, was made as part of the company’s IPO, as confirmed by the bank to Kursiv.media.

«The EBRD’s acquisition of shares in the company is excellent news for all investors due to our AAA rating. The presence of such a reputable investor will have a positive impact on the company’s stability and attractiveness to investors,» the company stated.

According to the bank, it invests in companies aligned with its strategic objectives. Regarding Air Astana, the...

Kazakhstan is set to prevent pedophiles, extremists and terrorists from entering the country. The Mazhilis, the lower house of the country’s parliament, has adopted a new law aimed at improving national legislation in the sphere of migration and the penitentiary system.

The document proposes limiting entry to Kazakhstan for individuals with criminal records related to sex crimes against children, who will also be barred from obtaining Kazakhstani citizenship.

«In addition, we will ban entry to our country for any foreigner involved in extremism and terrorism,» the Mazhilis stated.

On the other hand, under the new...

The National Bank of Kazakhstan emerged as a global leader in gold sales last year, contrasting with the trend among other central banks, particularly those in developing nations, which sought to accumulate gold reserves, according to analysts at Halyk Finance.

Since 2012, the National Bank has been actively purchasing gold from local producers. By 2022, gold constituted 70% of its reserves. However, experts at Halyk Finance noted that this structure of foreign exchange and gold reserves was characterized by low liquidity. Consequently, the regulator opted to decrease the share of gold in its reserves, a trend that continued in...

The government of Kazakhstan intends to authorize the minister of industry and construction to sign long-term agreements with investors in the processing of solid minerals, granting them tax benefits.

“In accordance with Article 243 of Kazakhstan’s Subsoil Code, the government of Kazakhstan approves the draft agreement on the processing of solid minerals and to authorizes the minister of industry and construction of the Republic of Kazakhstan to sign agreements on the processing of solid minerals.”

To be eligible for any tax benefits, investors must allocate at least $576.1 million to a solid mineral processing project.

The Ministry of Digital Development, Innovations and Aerospace Industry of Kazakhstan, Samruk Kazyna and Presight AI, a research and consulting company from Abu Dhabi, have officially agreed to build a supercomputer and a data processing center (DPC) in Kazakhstan. Once the project is implemented, the country will lease this computing power to neighboring countries, as stated on the ministry’s website.

Scientists and representatives from various companies in Kazakhstan are expected to have access to the supercomputer. Kursiv.media reached out to the Digital Ministry for clarification on the process of accessing it.

«The demand for technical infrastructure...

According to the Ministry of Digital Development, Kazakhstan plans to export its IT solutions related to e-government to neighboring Kyrgyzstan.

The projects expected to be exported include:

During Digital Almaty 2024, a conference dedicated to IT solutions across various sectors, the digital ministries of both countries signed a memorandum of understanding.

Additionally, Kazakhstani officials signed similar memorandums with digital ministries from Sierra...

Kazakhstani citizens are showing reduced interest in moving to Russia. In 2023, only 11,700 Kazakhstanis opted to relocate to Russia for residence, as reported by the First Credit Bureau (FCB), citing the Bureau of National Statistics.

The FCB noted that this marks the lowest migration level in the past 24 years. This decline happened across all 20 regions of the country.

From January to December 2023, 11,700 Kazakhstanis moved to Russia from Kazakhstan, compared to 19,400 in 2022.

Additionally, the Bureau of National Statistics reported a net migration of 9,344 individuals, with 25,399 people arriving in Kazakhstan and 16,055 departing...