News

The consumer confidence index (CCI) in Kazakhstan is declining but remains in the optimistic zone. Residents perceive expected inflation to be higher than actual inflation. Many Kazakhstanis frequently report notable price hikes and anticipate significant price growth over the next month and the coming year. Although anxiety levels, including concerns about the labor market, continue to decline, other economic indicators are showing signs of weakness. The credit and deposit confidence indexes have decreased, along with the percentage of people planning major purchases, especially those requiring credit.

This report highlights the findings from the 24th wave of Freedom Finance Global...

The sale of Kazakhstan’s Mobile Telecom-Service (MTS) operator, which operates under the Altel and Tele2 brands, is expected to be completed by January 2025, according to Qatari Power International Holding, the buyer of MTS.

«Power International Holding is finalizing the acquisition of telecommunications operator MTS, with the deal expected to close by January 2025. This acquisition will significantly enhance the telecommunications infrastructure in the region and strengthen its partnership with Kazakhstan,» the company said in a statement.

The current owner of MTS is Kazakhtelecom, whose principal shareholder is the Samruk Kazyna National Welfare Fund...

Askar Jetegenov, ex-deputy head of the drug crime investigations at the Almaty Police Department, has been detained on suspicion of large-scale drug production and trafficking. According to a statement from the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), the case is currently under investigation by Kazakhstan’s Prosecutor General’s Office.

«The MIA is conducting systematic efforts to identify employees who violate the law and hold them accountable. Any unlawful conduct by MIA representatives will be met with the strictest measures,» the statement read. 

The pre-trial process is being conducted under an article of the Kazakhstani Criminal Code related...

Brother Gold, a company controlled by Chinese citizen Huang Ling, plans to conduct geological exploration for solid minerals at the Kerimbek deposit in the Zhetysu region.

«Under this work, the company’s workers will clean previously completed mine workings manually (640 cubic meters) and drill an additional 2,000 linear meters of wells… The work will be carried out during the period from 2025 to 2027 in the warm season (seasonal work from Apr. 1 to Oct. 31),» the company said in a statement.

The total exploration area the company will operate in is 29 square kilometers...

A massive explosion occurred on the ground floor of an apartment block in Moscow, resulting in the deaths of Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov (equivalent to a Major General in the U.S. Army) and his aide.

According to Mash.ru, an explosive device hidden in a scooter’s handlebar was detonated at the entrance of an apartment block on Ryazanskiy Avenue in Moscow.

«An explosion on Ryazanskiy Avenue killed two men. The Investigative Committee has opened a criminal inquiry and is searching for those involved in the crime. The blast shattered windows in the apartment block, damaged its cladding...

President Sadyr Japarov of Kyrgyzstan has signed a new law to impose an additional tax on every liter of fuel sold at gas stations in the country. The government plans to use the revenue to build new roads and repair existing ones, as reported by Kaktus.kg.

«The purpose of the law is to increase state budget revenues for the subsequent implementation of tasks aimed at improving the condition of public roads and road infrastructure in general,» the media outlet cited a statement from Japarov’s administration.

According to the document, once collected, the funds will be...

The Ministry of Energy of Kazakhstan has announced the commissioning of eight new renewable energy facilities by the end of 2024 with a total capacity of 163.35 megawatts.

The new facilities include wind, solar and hydroelectric power plants:

Vladislav Kochetkov, chair of the Russian brokerage firm Finam, has announced plans to enter the Kazakhstani market, according to Russian Frank Media. It is worth noting that Finam’s website was blocked for a long time in Kazakhstan over suspicions of the company’s involvement in organizing a Ponzi scheme.

«We have resumed our efforts to enter the Kazakhstani market. We have recently visited the country, held several negotiations and concluded that we’re interested in expanding there. As a result, we are resuming the talks on acquiring a Kazakhstani broker. It’s quicker than establishing a new entity, although...

S&P Global Ratings has improved long-term credit ratings for four subsidiaries of Freedom Holding Corp., according to a statement issued by the rating agency.

Ratings for Freedom Finance and Freedom Finance Global (both operating under the Freedom Broker brand), Freedom Bank Kazakhstan (under the Freedom Bank brand) and Freedom Finance Europe have all been upgraded from B to B+ on the international scale and from kzBBB- to kzBBB on the national scale.

S&P analysts emphasized their expectation that Freedom Holding Corp.’s companies will see capitalization growth, driven by a planned moderate pace of balance sheet expansion and strong profits diversified...

According to Azattyk, many individuals born and raised in Central Asia are among the rebels who ousted Bashar al-Assad from power. The media outlet analyzed a video clip in which one of the rebels in the Syrian settlement of Deir Semaan spoke Tajik.

The video, shot on Dec. 3, shows a group of armed individuals wearing camouflage near Simeon Monastery, a Christian landmark located 30 kilometers from Aleppo, Syria’s second-largest city.

One of the men spoke Tajik, stating that their group had seized the territory from «infidels.» However, it remains unclear which group he was referring to.

An undisclosed source...

On Dec. 12, the value of global depository receipts (GDRs) of Halyk Bank traded on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) dropped by 5.3%. Analysts from Freedom Broker believe this decline was caused by a dividend gap on Dec. 13.

Halyk Bank is set to pay $0.75 per GDR, which can be converted into 40 common shares. As of Oct. 1, The Bank of New York, a nominal holder for the securities, held 3.1 billion shares, equivalent to 77.4 million GDRs. In other words, holders of Halyk Bank’s GDRs expected to receive $58 million in total dividends. Meanwhile, in September, the...

Kazakhstani AST Petroleum and American BlueSky Energy have agreed to start producing diesel fuel production facilities in Kazakhstan. The fuel will be produced from coal, according to the Telegram channel Energy Monitor, by Nurlan Zhumagulov, the chairman of a public fund with the same name.

According to Zhumagulov, each facility will have a capacity of 20,000 tons of diesel fuel per year. One ton of coal is enough to produce 240 liters of fuel. Once domestic demand is met, the facilities will export fuel to Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and other countries.

The production of diesel fuel from coal is known as...

Kazakhstan’s Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market (ARDFM) plans to introduce a gradual reduction in the minimum price of distressed assets held by banks and microfinance organizations if an initial auction fails. For subsequent trade sessions, the proposal suggests setting the price at no more than 70% of the market value for the second round and no more than 50% for any further attempts. A draft regulation with the aforementioned amendments is open for public comment on the legalacts.egov.kz portal until Dec. 26.

The ARDFM explained that the reduction in the minimum price is designed to address...

Kazakhstan’s lawmakers are working on a draft law that would prohibit the use of state funds to finance foreign athletes. At the same time, the country will prioritize football (soccer) as an Olympic sport, Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov announced.

Responding to a parliamentary inquiry from Senator Darkhan Kydyrali, Bektenov stated that members of the Mazhilis, Kazakhstan’s lower house of parliament, have developed and approved a draft law on physical culture and sports in the first reading.

«The draft law includes a provision banning the use of state funds to finance athletes who are not citizens of...

The cost of renting an A-class warehouse is expected to rise by 29% in 2025, reaching 5,800 to 6,000 tenge ($11.11 to $11.49) per square meter. This year, rent payments ranged from 5,600 to 5,800 tenge ($10.73 to $11.11) per square meter (VAT and utilities excluded), reflecting a 20% increase from the previous year, according to IBC Real Estate.

At the same time, the amount of new warehouse space commissioned in Kazakhstan during the first 11 months of the year reached 191,000 square meters, nearly doubling last year’s figures. Some forecasts indicate that this figure will rise to 255,000 square...

Kazakhstan is in negotiations with Telegram, TON, Tether, Google, EPAM and other international IT companies about opening their representative offices in Astana. These companies are expected to carry out R&D activities and develop new products there, the press service of the president reported.

The country’s authorities have already selected the venue for these offices which will likely be located within the new international artificial intelligence (AI) center AlemAI, planned to open at the Nur Alem Sphere — a former EXPO 2017 pavilion.

Presenting the new center’s concept to President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Minister of Digital Development Zhaslan Madiyev also announced that...

For the seventeenth month, Freedom Finance Global has been studying consumer confidence, inflation and devaluation expectations of residents of four Central Asian countries including Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. In November 2024, mixed dynamics of consumer confidence were recorded. Growth was noted in only two countries, and in three countries there was a reversal of two-three-month trends in the index. But in the dynamics of inflationary sentiment, a deterioration is noticeable in almost all countries with sharp changes in indicators. Devaluation expectations in the region have again grown almost everywhere against the backdrop of weakening national currencies.

In November, the...

During a visit to AlemAI International Center, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan instructed the cabinet to explain the benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) to every Kazakhstani citizen and teach them how to use this technology. As a result, the country’s authorities also plan to expand training programs for specialists in the field of AI. 

«We have taught AI to think, analyze and speak the Kazakh language. This remarkable milestone paves the way for the development of the Kazakh language in the digital environment. It’s now essential to continue this significant effort. The next task is to...

Telemedicine services will be available to residents of rural areas in Kazakhstan by fall 2025. This initiative aims to address the shortage of medical personnel in remote regions, according to Kazakhstan’s Vice Minister of Healthcare Yerbol Ospanov.

«Currently, residents of remote settlements have to travel 400 to 500 kilometers to district centers and cities to access quality medical care. Telemedicine will enable online consultations — both between patients and doctors and between doctors with varying levels of expertise,» Ospanov said on the sidelines of a panel discussion on the use of Big Data and patient registers...

Freedom Bank Kazakhstan is set to issue $195 million in bonds as part of a new bond program, aiming to place half of the total value in two stages by the end of 2024. The funds raised will be used to finance corporate lending in the real sector of the country’s economy, according to Farhat Sarsekeyev, the bank’s managing director, who announced the plan during Issuer Day at the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE).

«Since mid-2024, Freedom Bank Kazakhstan has entered the corporate lending market. We currently serve 51,000 corporate clients and have several projects we plan...

The second tour of Kazakhstani Jibek Joly (Silk Way) excursion train is set to launch as early as January 2025. The ticket price is now tied to the U.S. dollar exchange rate. It has also been raised due to the addition of two towns on the route. Tourists will enjoy a journey starting and ending in Almaty, passing through Turkestan, Tashkent, Samarkand and Shymkent.

«Passengers will spend a full day in Turkestan, visiting the Mausoleums of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi and Arystan Bab, the Otyrar Museum and other sites. The Tashkent tour includes stops at the Hazrati...

Kazakhstani Nurbank has announced its cooperation with the new Russian money transfer system Kwikpay, according to a statement issued by the bank. The service offers fee-free bi-currency transfers, allowing funds to be sent in one currency and received in another. The partnership comes amidst challenges faced by Zolotaya Korona, a Russian payment system widely used in Kazakhstan.

Nurbank has become the first Kazakhstani credit institution to connect to Kwikpay. The system has recently been expanding its presence in other countries and now enables money transfers to Armenia, Turkey, Greece, Cyprus, Uzbekistan, Israel, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan through intermediaries.

According to the...

In Kazakhstan, over 37,000 prisoners will observe New Year’s Eve as another ordinary day behind bars. Unlike in Europe and the U.S., where New Year’s Eve menus are often prepared for those in custody, Kazakhstan’s prisons do not provide special holiday meals. Kursiv LifeStyle explored how New Year’s Eve is marked in the country’s penal institutions.

For most, New Year’s Eve is a cherished family holiday, filled with festive meals and the hope for a brighter future. However, for those serving jail terms in penal colonies, the occasion is far less celebratory.

According to the Committee...

According to KazTransOil, Ukrainian drone attacks on an oil refinery in Russia’s Bryansk region have not affected the Druzhba pipeline, which transports Kazakhstani oil to Germany.

During the night of Dec. 11, ten Ukrainian drones attacked an oil refinery in the Bryansk region. Some Telegram channels reported a fire at a loading facility belonging to the pipeline, located in the Sven settlement near Bryansk. However, Kazakhstan’s representatives denied this information.

«The attack was on an oil depot. KazTransOil called Transneft, and according to their information, the drones attacked fuel and lubricant depots, not the oil pipeline...