News

The government of Kazakhstan has approved the sale of 100% of the shares of Atyrau International Airport by its current owner, ATMA – Atyrau Airport and Transportation, to QazAir Investments, a company owned by investors from Qatar. The corresponding document has been officially published.

Currently, the airport is controlled by two equal owners: Turkish Mağdenli Yer Hizmetleri ve Taşıma A.Ş. and the Social-Entrepreneurship Corporation of Atyrau. The government’s edict applies to the shares of both owners, meaning that QazAir will obtain 100% of ATMA’s shares. No details on the sum of the deal or its timeline are available.

According to...

President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has identified six main regional tasks for Central Asian states for the next several years. Among them are the development of defense, energy and logistical cooperation, the enhancement of economic potential with a focus on resource independence, general principles of water and food security, intensifying ties between youth and writing a general history of the region.

In his article «Renaissance of Central Asia: On the Way to Sustainable Development and Prosperity,» the president noted that interaction between Central Asian countries is crucial for preserving their unique civilization and stabilizing the region as a whole.

Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has canceled his trip to Kazakhstan due to the threat of a powerful earthquake, The Japan News reported. Kishida was scheduled to participate in a Central Asia-Japan summit in Astana.

The prime minister’s decision followed two earthquakes in southwest Japan on August 8, with magnitudes of 7.1 and 6.9, respectively. Japanese authorities immediately issued a tsunami warning after meteorologists forecast a megaquake along the Nankai Trough. According to media reports, a natural disaster of this scale occurs once every 100 to 150 years.

Kishida was also set to visit Uzbekistan and Mongolia, in addition to...

YouTube is down on devices in Russia. When trying to connect to the website via browser, the «unable to connect» notification appears. A lot of users in the country have experienced difficulties connecting to the service.

The issue persists regardless of the ISP, affecting many users across the country. Five thousand complaints have been recorded by 11:20 GMT+3, according to a Russian outage monitoring service Sboi.rf. Users claim that they are met with an error or an endless loading screen. In some cases, the video hosting asks to check the Internet connection, although it is completely fine.

The issues may...

The Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE) and its subsidiary, KASE Clearing Center, have officially joined Tabadul Digital Exchange Hub. From now on Kazakhstani companies are able to raise funds from the UAE and other Gulf countries via Tabadul, a digital platform launched by the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) in July 2022. KASE is now the sixth member of the digital exchange hub. 

Tabadul allows Arab and Kazakhstani enterprises bilateral cross-trading to strengthen the strategic partnership between the two exchanges. KASE and ADX cooperation includes optimizing trade mechanisms by making both parties’ securities available for cross trading. As a result, foreign...

CEO of KazMunayGas (KMG) Askhat Khassenov and CEO of LanzaJet Jimmy Samartzis have signed a memorandum of cooperation, agreeing to launch the production of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) in Kazakhstan, the Kazakhstani oil company reported.

According to Khassenov, KMG is pursuing a 15% reduction of its carbon footprint by 2031 (compared to the 2019 rate). Within this strategy, the development of the biofuel market in Kazakhstan is an important step toward carbon neutrality.

«The global demand for SAF is growing. As a company, we are considering the launch of SAF production in Kazakhstan,» Khassenov said.

In turn, Samartzis stated that...

The Ministry of Ecology of Kazakhstan is going to collaborate with Israeli companies to simulate emergencies such as floods and wildfires.

During a meeting with representatives of several Israeli companies working in the sphere of sustainable development, Vice Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of Kazakhstan Nurlan Kurmalayev presented the Kazakhstani project of emergency prediction.

«We are ready to consider any offer from Israeli companies specializing in digital technologies, hydrometeorology and environment-related solutions to develop an IT system for simulating emergencies like floods and wildfires,» Kurmalayev said.

In turn, Israeli businessmen shared their experience of operating in the CIS. The...

On the evening of August 7, two more Kazakhstani athletes secured silver medals at the Olympic Games in Paris: boxer Nurbek Oralbay and wrestler Demeu Zhadrayev, as reported by the National Olympic Committee (NOC).

According to the NOC, Oralbay competed against Oleksandr Khyzhniak from Ukraine. Khyzhniak won the first round with a score of 3 to 2. The second round saw the same result for Oralbay. In the third round, the Ukrainian boxer triumphed with a score of 5 to 0, winning by the judges’ split decision. Both athletes fought in the 80-kilogram weight category.

Demeu Zhadrayev reached the final...

Kazakhstan announced a halt to grain trade with China after the Chinese partners introduced new regulations on imports. The Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Kazakhstan sees this as a reason for a drop in the price of wheat.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, grain export contracts lost $20 within a week, possibly because of a heavy yield. Referring to the Bureau of National Statistics, there were 13.1 million hectares of wheat sown, and 264,100 hectares of fall wheat are left as of July 2024.

As of July, a kilogram of wheat costs $0.26 ($215.81 per ton). The...

The Kazakhstan Central Securities Depository (KCSD) is going to get rid of Russian securities it holds as a nominee holder by transferring them to Russian jurisdiction. In order to execute this task the KCSD will set up accounts in subsidiaries of Western banks in Russia. The KCSD Board of Directors made this decision late June, according to FrankMedia, a Russian media outlet, citing the depository’s website.

Since 2022, Russian brokers and managing companies had been transferring Russian securities to the KSCD for nominee holding. Now, the KCSD wants these securities to be kept in Russia. According to some media...

Since the initial public offering (IPO), Air Astana shares have lost nearly 30% of their value (from $2.49 to $1.74). However, analysts and the National Bank of Kazakhstan recommend buying the stock, forecasting a potential price increase of up to 50%. During an interview with Kursiv, CEO of the airline Peter Forster expressed hope that the stock price of the company would align with its strong performance.

As Foster noted, the current stock price does not reflect the airline’s performance, which has been very strong, as confirmed by both local and foreign analysts.

«This is an...

According to Bagdat Musin, CEO of Kazakhtelecom, the communication operator and Telegram have agreed to exchange traffic directly without using transit operators. Musin believes that this move will allow Kazakhstanis to share information on Telegram more quickly.

The official revealed that he met with Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, and negotiated with him to facilitate direct traffic exchange without intermediate operators.

«My colleagues have completed the necessary work in conjunction with Telegram specialists and have established a direct physical connection with Telegram’s network to accelerate data exchange without intermediate operators. We currently receive 19 gigabits...

Shares of the Kaspi.kz fintech group are traded on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE) 8.9% higher than American depository shares (ADSs) from the same issuer on Nasdaq, according to the latest survey by Freedom Broker. The company’s analysts believe that the ADS value may jump by 7.5% to 7.8% shortly, equalizing share prices on both platforms.

As of August 7, Kaspi.kz shares were traded on KASE at $133.54 (+3.5% compared to the closing price on August 6). At a preliminary session on Nasdaq, ADSs were traded at $118.49, with the lag between the stocks at 12.8%.

On August 6, the...

In conversation with Kursiv.media, Shin-Line’s Head of Board of Directors, Dmitry Dokin, discussed the plans for cooperation with Saudi Arabian Al-Alameya Group. Shin-Line is to export already-made ice cream, though the Governor’s Office of Almaty region earlier reported on plans for the milk supply for Al-Alameya. 

«We are starting to export ice cream from Almaty to Saudi Arabia this September. If the volume is going to be engaging, we may build a new ice cream factory there in the future,» Dokin noted.

According to him, the company is currently localizing the package for the Arab...

According to RBC, a Russian business media outlet, many Russian companies have reported new obstacles to doing business with Kazakhstan. However, nearly all Kazakhstani banks told Kursiv.media that they haven’t noticed an increase in rejected transactions for clients from Russia, as long as they aren’t on the sanctions list.

In late July, RBC reported that the share of rejected payments in banks across Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan rose to 30%, citing a survey by large Russian transportation companies. Additionally, the average timeline for a transaction increased by roughly 15% or two weeks.

Although banks have never explained the reasons...

Air Astana increased consolidated profit for the first half of 2024 by 12.9%, according to a release on the company’s website. However, the airline’s profit has plunged by 80%.

In the first six months of the year, Air Astana reported $586.2 million in revenue compared to $519.1 million earned the year prior and $4.6 million of net income compared to $23.5 million in the first half-year of 2023. The results include data for both Air Astana and FlyArystan, its low-cost subsidiary that became an independent entity earlier this year.

At the same time, the company outlines that the indicator does...

Kazakhstani gymnast Nariman Kurbanov has won a silver medal in the ongoing 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. During his performance on the pommel horse, he scored 15.433 points. This is the first medal for Kazakhstan in this sport, according to the country’s National Olympic Committee (NOC).

Although Kurbanov is a two-time champion of Asia and a bronze winner in the Asian Games, the games in Paris are his first Olympics. Kurbanov has a pommel horse skill named after him in the Code of Points. He won several tournaments with this skill, which involves changing sides of the pommel horse in...

President of the International Chess Federation Arkady Dvorkovich, has highly praised the idea of introducing chess into the school curriculum and the way chess players are trained in Kazakhstan. He discussed a comprehensive plan for chess development in the country until 2027 with President of KazChess Timur Turlov.

During their tour, Turlov and Dvorkovich visited Astana School No. 8, where KazChess opened a chess class in April this year as part of the «Chess in Education» project, implemented in conjunction with the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Science and local authorities. Under the project, at least 20% of primary...

According to Tim Gitzel, CEO of Cameco, a large uranium producer from Canada, uranium production in Kazakhstan could become less attractive once a new calculation and collection methodology for the Mineral Extraction Tax (MET) is introduced in 2025. The prime cost for uranium production in Kazakhstan has long been considered low but may rise after the tax reform. If this happens, Kazatomprom will lose its competitive advantage. Gitzel commented on these changes during his press conference on the Cameco Q2 results.

Currently, the 6% MET rate for uranium production is not differentiated in Kazakhstan. In 2025, the rate is...

Kazatomprom, the national nuclear company in Kazakhstan, and its subsidiaries reported an 18% decline in sales of uranium oxide concentrate, from 9,500 tons to 7,800 tons, in the first half of the year compared to the same period last year. At the same time, the company reported a 6% increase in production year-on-year, reaching 10,800 tons.

Even though Kazatomprom’s sales rose by 81% to 4,400 tons in the second quarter compared to the same period in 2023, its sales over the first six months of the year dropped by 22% to 6,700 tons. As for the entire group’s sales, they...

According to the Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market of Kazakhstan (ARDFM), the share of non-performing loans (NPLs, loans with a past due of 90+ days) issued to businesses by micro-financial organizations (MFOs) and credit societies (CSs) is very low.

«Even though businesses that rely on loans from MFOs and CSs are primarily considered risky, the share of non-performing loans issued to these businesses in the credit portfolios of MFOs and CSs is still very low,» the agency said in a statement.

National Bank statistics show that the share of non-performing business...

According to the Ministry of Energy’s report on its performance from January to June, Kazakhstan produced more energy than consumers needed in the first half of the year. Previously, officials and industry representatives had warned multiple times about the threat of power shortages.

The ministry reported that the country produced 60.4 billion kilowatts per hour while consuming 60.2 billion kilowatts per hour over the first six months of the year.

«This data shows that our grid infrastructure has been operating smoothly,» the agency highlighted.

In 2023, Kazakhstan struggled with power shortages, according to Energy Minister...

According to General Prosecutor of Kazakhstan Berik Assylov, his agency has reclaimed $684.6 million in cash, jewelry and cultural valuables worth $842,625 that were illegally withdrawn from Kazakhstan, as well as 513,000 hectares of land. The official revealed this data in an interview with the Kazakhstanskaya Pravda newspaper.

«After the government took control of several facilities, their former owners lost privileged positions in certain economic sectors. It is important to remember that the illegal concentration of economic resources within a narrow circle of individuals is the main obstacle to developing a free economy in our country,» he said.

As Assylov...

Chinese companies Xiaomi and TCL are considering moving their production facilities from Russia to Kazakhstan due to the threat of secondary sanctions from the U.S. and the EU. For example, TCL has recently refused to supply its components to STI Group and Kvant, which are the company’s contractors in Russia. Xiaomi also stopped delivering its electronic components to Kvant back in 2022, causing the TV set production plant in Voronezh to halt its production process, according to the Russian business edition Kommersant, citing sources in Kvant and STI Group.

As the media outlet noted, if the companies move their...