News

Fitch Ratings has affirmed Uzbekistan’s long-term foreign-currency (LTFC) issuer default rating (IDR) at ‘BB-‘, with a stable outlook, the rating agency reported.

Fitch rated Uzbekistan at BB- in December 2018 and hasn’t changed it since then.

According to the agency, Uzbekistan’s ratings reflect robust external and fiscal buffers, low government debt and a record of high growth relative to ‘BB’ rated peers’ on the one hand and high commodity dependence, high inflation and structural weaknesses in terms of low GDP per capita on the other hand.

Fitch noted that Uzbekistan’s government appears willing and able to proceed with key...

On March 1, the Aurora Space cultural center turned into a realm of independent music. Those who organized the event did their best to turn just a regular evening program into a small music festival.

The program was opened by the duo Balkhash Snitsa, consisting of poet Anuar Duseybinov and composer Rustem Myrzakhmetov. They performed classic spoken word, calm poetry accompanied by fragile electronic music in ethnic style and live guitar music that played from time to time. The performance was quite monotonous and sometimes you couldn’t clearly understand what sounds to focus on. It was like live broadcasting from...

According to the office of the prime minister of Kazakhstan, Chinese transit cargo that goes by the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (or Middle Corridor) through Kazakhstan will be delivered one week faster by the end of this year.

Kazakhstan’s authorities say that Chinese cargo can go two times faster through the country’s territory this year than a year before (six days instead of 12). By the end of 2023, this route will take only five days. In general, the entire route from China to ports on the Black Sea now takes 19 to 23 days instead of 38 to...

The government of Kazakhstan, Samruk-Kazyna and ACWA Power from Saudi Arabia signed an agreement on principles of implementation of a renewable power project, according to a press release of the country’s Ministry of Energy.

The document was signed on March 1, when Kazakhstan’s Energy Minister Bolat Akchulakov and Samruk-Kazyna Board Chairman Almasadam Satkaliyev met with Minister of Energy of Saudi Arabia Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud and top executives from Saudi Aramco, SABIC and ACWA Power. The new project is expected to provide Kazakhstan with investments and new jobs and will strengthen the country’s green power capabilities.

American company Wabtec has taken all necessary actions to expand the manufacturing capabilities of the Locomotiv Kurastyru Zauyty (LKZ) in Astana. As a result, the factory’s capacity will be doubled. Vice President of Wabtec Gokhan Bayhan made this statement during a meeting with Kazakhstan’s Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov.

According to Bayhan, the company is going to expand the list of items produced locally, introduce green technologies, improve maintenance service and intensify exports to other Central Asian states.

In turn, Smailov has confirmed that the country’s cabinet is fully committed to supporting Wabtec’s investment plans.

LKZ started its operation in February...

Kazakhstan is awaiting an additional $2 billion of investments in geological exploration as the government is working on a new and improved model-based contract in this area, reported Ortcom.kz citing Minister of Energy Bolat Akchulakov, who took part in the meeting with Kazakhstani entrepreneurs.

According to Akchulakov, under the contract, Kazakhstan must provide an investor with a set of regulatory and fiscal preferences for oil and gas exploration and production. The official said that the government has already signed a similar contract with KazMunayGas (KMG). The company is going to invest about $6 billion in the Kalamkas-Sea, Khazar and Auezov...

Adani Group is still showing its interest in power plant projects in Kazakhstan, according to Ernat Berdigulov, managing director for strategy and asset management in the National Welfare Fund Samruk-Kazyna. In December 2022, Indian billionaire Gautam Adani was in Astana, where he met with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

«We continue to negotiate with Adani Group. Despite problems within the company, it’s still interested in projects in our country. We talked to them just a week ago. They are still eager to cooperate with us and plan to send their specialists to discuss a project in more detail...

According to Antony Blinken, the U.S. state secretary, it is impossible to talk about Russia’s future plans. Countries all over the world should be united now to help Ukraine. He made this statement during the press briefing at Kazakhstan’s MFA in Astana.

Blinken also noted that the international community is very concerned about Russian aggression against Ukraine.

«It’s aggression not only against Ukraine, but the very principles of the U.N. charter including territorial integrity, independence, sovereignty, principles that matter deeply to countries in Central Asia, including Kazakhstan. In response to what Russia did, countries around the...

On February 27, a group of inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) started its work in Kazakhstan, according to the country’s Ministry of Energy press service.

«On February 27, 2023, the IAEA experts arrived in Kazakhstan with an Integrated Nuclear Infrastructure Review (INIR) mission in order to assess the current status of the country’s nuclear power infrastructure, including its preparedness for the construction of its first nuclear power plant. The IAEA mission will stay in the country until March 3, 2023,» the ministry said in a statement.

The mission is going to facilitate...

The official visit of U.S. State Secretary Antony Blinken to Kazakhstan is very important for the build-up of strategic cooperation between the two countries, according to President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who met Blinken in his official residence Akorda.

Tokayev highlighted that Kazakhstan and the U.S. have already built a very good and reliable long-term partnership in so many strategically important areas like security, energy, trade, and investment.

«We are ready to follow up on this cooperation.  And taking this opportunity, I would like to express our appreciation for the continuous and firm support of the United States...

The U.S. State Secretary Antony Blinken is traveling to Kazakhstan. This is his first visit to the country after his appointment as U.S. State Secretary.

«Today I’m embarking on a trip to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and India. It will be my first time as Secretary visiting Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan — and I look forward to advancing our Central Asian partnerships. From there, I’ll head to India for the #G20 Ministerial,» he wrote on Twitter.

Blinken will arrive in Kazakhstan on February 28. It is expected he’ll meet with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Kazakhstani Foreign Minister Mukhtar...

According to Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov, the construction of the gas plant at Kashagan must be accelerated.

As the prime minister’s press service reported, the cabinet discussed a set of issues related to gas processing plants at Kashagan, one of the world’s biggest oil and gas fields discovered over the past 30 years, on February 25. Once the plant is completed, it will produce about one billion cubic meters of commercial-grade gas, liquefied gas, sulfur and gas condensate. The plant is expected to start its operation in 2025. 

«In light of the expected increase in oil...

According to the Ministry of Industry and Infrastructural Development of Kazakhstan, more than 400 long-haul drivers have been stuck in Poland due to closed borders for all foreign cargo trucks except those from the E.U. The ban entered into effect on February 21.

The ministry negotiated with Kazakhstan’s embassies in Warsaw and Vilnius and local authorized agencies to let Kazakhstani drives leave Poland through Lithuania.

On February 20, the Foreign Ministry of Poland said that Belarus is preventing polish truck drivers from crossing border checkpoints between Belarus and Lithuania and Belarus and Latvia. As a result, Polish Internal Minister Mariusz...

According to the administration of the Jambyl district of the Almaty region, authorities are going to hold public hearings on the matter of building a nuclear power plant in Kazakhstan when the parliamentary election is over. The government has chosen the small Ulken settlement at the shore of Balkhash Lake as a location for the plant. On the other hand, authorities are keeping in mind the town of Kurchatov as a likely site for the second nuclear power plant.

«As all maslikhats (local representative bodies) in our country have stopped working until the upcoming elections, we...

The National Bank of Kazakhstan has put upward its outlook for the GDP. It is expected that the GDP will grow at the rate of 3.5% to 4.5% over the next three years, according to the bank.

«The economic forecast has been reviewed because of new positive expectations on Kazakhstan’s oil output and export while the country’s trading partners gradually rebound their economies,» the regulator said in a statement.

In December 2023, the central bank of Kazakhstan forecasted that its GDP would add 3-4% in 2023. The regulator also said that «the sustainable increase in...

According to Azamat Zholmanov, deputy head of Kazakhstan’s Agency for Civil Affairs, the agency is going to change its approach to hiring civil servants from the so-called corps B.

Those who want to become civil servants need to pass through three selection rounds. In the first round, a candidate has to demonstrate his knowledge of the law; in the second stage, the agency estimates his personal qualities and the third round is an interview with a selection committee in person. 

«We want this selection process to rely on an automated system when it summarizes all scores a candidate has gotten...

According to Arman Kasenov, deputy head of QazaqGaz, Kazakhstan hopes to get a share in the transit gas pipeline that Russia and China plan to build via Kazakhstan.

«We have a good example of the Kazakhstan-China gas pipeline. These are two highly effective models: the Asian Gas Pipeline and the Beyneu-Bozoy-Shymkent gas pipeline. Kazakhstan has a 50% share in both pipelines. (Chinese CNPS controls the other 50% share in the companies). These two projects generate $701 million of profit for our country,» the official said.

However, no details of the project have been released yet...

UzAuto Motors, Uzbekistan’s automobile giant, hoped to sell at least 5% of its shares during the initial offering. In reality, it managed to sell just 0.29% of its shares. The company raised about $5 million instead of $90 million. Even so, it is still the biggest IPO in the country’s history.

On February 20, 2023, the Tashkent Stock Exchanges included UzAuto Motors stock in its standard trading books. It was presumed that the carmaker would hold an IPO last year, but due to low demand, the company was forced to reschedule the event from December 22, 2022, to December...

The Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) announced that it has suspended taking Tengiz oil at its Tengiz oil pumping station.

The company was forced to suspend taking the oil due to overstocking. The CPC’s oil reservoirs are full and can’t take any oil, so the Atyrau (Kazakhstan) and Komsomolskya (Russia) oil pump stations have significantly reduced their output.

According to Kazakhstan’s Minister of Energy Bolat Akchulakov, the Caspian Pipeline Consortium continues to work and the Novorossiysk seaport may resume the loading of oil tankers on February 23.

«Concerning the CPC, as you can see there are lots...

The government of Kazakhstan has approved the new Corporate Governance Code of the National Wealth Fund Samruk-Kazyna. The new version of the code doesn’t include any references to the role of Ex-President Nursultan Nazarbayev in the Fund Management Council (FMC).

The previous version of the code said that issues related to the governance of the fund must be considered at meetings of the FMC. In turn, the FMC was chaired by the first president – Elbasy (Leader of the Nation). Now any references to him have been removed from the document.

According to Samruk-Kazyna, the changes to item 4 of...

The Bostandyk district court in Almaty has arrested common and privileged shares of Jusan Bank that belong to First Heartland Securities, the majority stakeholder of the bank, according to the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE).

The court arrested 131.3 million common and privileged shares belonging to First Heartland Securities – the company that controls 78.23% of Jusan Bank stock – back on February 15, although the news about the move went public only on February 21. The lawsuit doesn’t cover 33 million other shares (19.67%), which are controlled by businessman Galymzhan Esenov.

On February 16, the General Prosecutor’s Office of Kazakhstan...

More than 60 countries including Kazakhstan took quick actions to help Turkey and Syria when a set of powerful quakes hit these two countries on February 6. The earthquake destroyed thousands of buildings in ten provinces of Turkey and four provinces of Syria. Kazakhstan has sent to Turkey the necessary goods and dispatched its rescue team to help Turkish civil defense specialists.

What Kazakhstan has done to assist Turkey

Immediately after the tragedy on February 6, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev expressed his condolences to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey. He also ordered the cabinet to allocate $1 million for...

According to the Applied Economics Research Center (AERC), the annual inflation in Kazakhstan is expected to reach its peak in February (21.06%). On the other hand, the monthly inflation will continue to slow down.

«In March, the annual inflation will slow to 17.84% while the monthly inflation is expected to be at 0.95%. Last year’s high base is the key driver of that slowing,» the agency said.

The monthly inflation rose by 3.7% in March and by 2% in April 2022.

The strengthening of the tenge exchange rate to the U.S. dollar and declining food...

KazMunayGas (KMG) failed to send Tengiz oil via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan route in February due to the devastative earthquake in Turkey, according to the Interfax news agency citing Kevin Lyon, director general of Tehgizchevroil.

As Lyon said, Tengizchevroil has cooperated with KMG in order to establish a new route for its oil to Baku. It was presumed that Tengiz oil would be delivered by railway.

«Unfortunately, you are all aware of this, this tragic earthquake has hit almost all parts of the Turkish infrastructure, including the seaport of Ceyhan,» Lyon said while responding to the question about...