News

The European Union can benefit from deeper connections with Central Asia given the region’s potential in the sphere of energy, commodities and logistics, according to High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Joseph Borrel.

The official believes that the E.U. needs new transport routes bypassing Russia.

«We must deepen our ties with the region and tap into the vast potential it has to offer, in terms of energy supplies, critical raw materials and new transport corridors that do not depend on Russia (to so-called Middle Corridor or Trans Caspian Corridor),» he wrote in his blog on...

Uzbekistan is expecting its budget deficit to be 4% of the national GDP this year. The country is going to decrease the rate to 3% next year. However, lowering the deficit may prove challenging given rising structural spending pressures and the desire to reduce taxes, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission that visited the country.

Inflation remains the most immediate threat to current and future prosperity by squeezing real incomes and undermining macroeconomic stability. Fiscal policy should continue to protect the most vulnerable through targeted support.

«However, other spending may well need to be curtailed further given risks...

The World Bank has improved Kazakhstan’s position in the 2022 GovTech Maturity Index (GTMI), which covers 198 countries, the bank’s press service reported.

The index reflects what countries have done in the area of GovTech: support of the key GovTech systems, improving public services, more active participation of citizens and facilitation for the development of overall digitalization.

In the GTMI 2022 update, Kazakhstan has been promoted to group A, which includes the leading countries in this sphere. Previously, Kazakhstan was in group B, which combines a group of countries focused on the development of the GovTech.

«The index reflects the...

Kazakhstan is going to borrow €345.7 million from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD). The Senate has already approved the relevant law.

According to Vice Prime Minister Erulan Zhamaubayev, all this money will be allocated to finance the country’s budget deficit.

«This loan will help us meet our obligations in terms of social and other budget expenditures. The repayment period is 11.5 years including a 2.5-year grace period,» he said to the Senate.

By taking this loan, Kazakhstan is obliged to pay an interest rate of 0.25% from the sum of the loan plus 0.25% of the commission...

McDonald’s is going to temporarily suspend its restaurants from operation in Kazakhstan starting from November 18, according to the press service of Food Solutions KZ, which represents the American food giant in Kazakhstan.

No details have been provided for when restaurants might be re-opened.

Food Solutions KZ has been operating in Kazakhstan for six years. The company runs 24 restaurants under the McDonald’s franchise brand in Almaty, Astana, Aktobe, Kostanay and Karaganda providing jobs for 2,000 Kazakhstanis.

Over six years of operation, the company paid more than $6.5 million in taxes.

However, Kazakhstan’s authorities earlier expressed their concern over the...

Kazakhstan’s Agency for Regulation and Development of Financial Market (ARDFM) has prepared a corporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) information disclosure handbook. The agency is expecting that the guideline will facilitate businesses to go through the process of switching over to ESG standards, according to Madina Abylkasova, head of ARDFM. 

On November 16, during a conference called ESG as a New Paradigm in the Financial Sector, she said that ESG projects could transform the entire economy of the country, with the financial sector playing a key role in this process.

«At the initial stage, we will implement rules for ESG...

According to CEO Magzum Mirzagaliyev, KazMunayGas oil company (KMG) is going to increase oil production at the Tengiz oil field by 40%. He made the statement while responding to questions on the company’s IPO set to happen later this year.

The company is now carefully reviewing a set of projects aimed at increasing oil output in the near future.

«Among these projects is the project of Future Growth Project-Wellhead Pressure Management Project (FGP-WPMP), which is capable of increasing oil output at Tengiz by 40%, and several smaller projects at Kashagan,» he said.

FGP-WPMP is a massive project aimed at increasing...

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is expecting that liquid hydrocarbon output in Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan will decrease by 25,000 barrels a day in 2022 compared to 2021 and will then increase next year.

«According to the previous estimation of Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Energy, the oil output should have been fully restored by the end of October. However, as of October 21, the urgent repair work on the Caspian Pipeline Consortium oil terminal has not been conducted. No new deadlines for maintenance were announced either,» the OPEC report said.

As a result, the average oil output in Kazakhstan...

The Astana Financial Services Authority (AFSA), an independent regulator of financial services and related activities in the Astana International Financial Center (AIFC), has suspended the License of GB Finance Ltd. after the firm breached multiple AIFC Rules that are critical for companies to be able to carry on regulated activities.

According to the AFSA, the company breached some key rules in the field of currency regulation, minimum levels of capital adequacy ratios, limits on lending to related parties and limits on large exposures to counterparties. GB Finance also failed to advise the AFSA of the significant impact that certain acquisitions...

On November 7, more than one hundred dead seals were found on the Caspian Sea shore by local authorities. Seven days after Serikkali Brekeshev, minister of Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources announced that the reason for the incident is most likely hydrogen sulfide emission.

According to the official, there were 141 dead seals. The ministry has already established a special commission to investigate the incident.

«We took all necessary analyses and examined the bodies of those seals. Now we have to dispose of the bodies of dead seals. We will receive the results of these analyses in one month,» Brekeshev...

The Organization of Turkic States (OTS) needs to boost trade among member states. This goal might be achieved through the common space of new economic opportunities, according to President Shavkat Mirziyoyev of Uzbekistan. He made this statement during the OTS summit. 

«We need to strengthen the very basis of our trade and economic cooperation. Now this trade only accounts for 4% of the entire volume of trade in the OTS member states. Of course, none of us is happy with this situation. Moreover, our mutual trade is still limited by high customs duties,» said the president.

In order to improve...

The National Bank of Kazakhstan and the Payment and Financial Technologies Development Center have issued a notice about frauds linked to the digital tenge project, the regulator’s press service said. 

Often perpetrators create fake websites and pages in social media to attract those who are interested in the digital tenge project.

The National Bank urges people to ignore these online resources and avoid sharing personal data or contacts.

According to the regulator, the digital tenge project doesn’t attract money from individuals. The prime aim of the project is to create new opportunities for the national currency of Kazakhstan in the...

Members of the upper house of the Kazakhstani parliament have approved a new law on guaranteed transfers from the National Fund in the next three years. The document directly says how big these transfers should be: $4.7 billion in 2023, $4.3 billion in 2024, and $4 billion in 2025.

According to National Economy Minister Alibek Kuantyrov, the new regulation for the guaranteed transfers will allow the National Fund to restore its foreign currency assets: to $66.7 billion in 2023 and $78.8 – $93.2 billion in 2024 – 2025.

«We expect that limits for money transfers from the National Fund and...

Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Alikhan Smailov announced that the contract with ArcelorMittal Temirtau (AMT) has been amended. For the first time in the history of bilateral relations, Kazakhstan now officially requires the company to modernize its coal production and take action on degasification of coal beds.

Kazakhstan had never asked to do this before.

«For the first time, we have put these additional requirements on the contract. Now AMT is obliged to allocate at least $323 million a year for the modernization of its production and $79.7 million for removal of gas from the coal beds,» Smailov said.

According to...

According to the last survey prepared by the Eurasian Development Bank called «The Economy of Central Asia: A Fresh Perspective,» Central Asian countries face four major challenges that limit their economic growth.

Among these obstacles are lack of access to the sea, resource dependence and low level of financial development, lack of coordination in the water and energy complex, and climate change.

Since all Central Asian countries are landlocked, they have to pay more in terms of transportation costs.

«The region’s resurgence as the crossroads of meridional and latitudinal transport corridors connecting the main economic centers of Greater Eurasia will...

The National Welfare Fund Samruk-Kazyna, the only owner of the national oil company KazMunayGaz (KMG), revealed the details of its upcoming initial public offer. The holding is going to place 30 million shares for $18.09 per share. It is expected that the total capitalization of the company will reach about $11 billion.

According to Murat Kastayev, head of DAMU Capital Management, the announced share offering price means that potential investors can count on $0.70 of dividends (4%), as the company is planning to allocate about $430 million for dividends a year.

Last year, KMG reported $2.81 billion of revenue with...

Thousands of regular internet users in Kazakhstan have struggled with slow internet connection for weeks. Sometimes the internet is completely out of service. The Kursiv edition asked the Ministry of Digital Development, Innovations and Aerospace Industry to clarify what is going on.

Unidentified attackers

According to the government, the only reason for poor internet connection is cyberattacks on the country.

«We’ve been noticing cyberattacks on the Kazakhstani segment of the global net (Kaznet) for many days. These attacks are primarily targeted at public agencies and Kaznet infrastructure. We can’t say for sure who might be behind those attacks...

The European Union and Kazakhstan have signed a memorandum of understanding in the field of sustainable raw materials, batteries, and green hydrogen, according to the press service of Kazakhstan’s prime minister.

The document has been signed by Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, who held a bilateral meeting during the U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Egypt. 

Smailov noted that the E.U. is one of the largest trade partners for Kazakhstan and accounts for 30% of the country’s external trade. In turn, Ursula von der Leyen confirmed that the E.U. is one...

During his meeting with residents of the Mangystau region, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said that ArcelorMittal lacks systematic work in terms of the prevention of industry-related incidents. That’s why the government must take some strict actions against the company.

According to Tokayev, there have been more than 20 industry-related incidents since 2006. They have taken the lives of more than 100 people.

«Despite notices and orders by public agencies, the situation isn’t any better now than before. As a result, we must take urgent and tough actions,» said the president.

Tokayev wants authorized agencies to undertake an overall inspection of the...

Caspian Sunrise PLC has established a subsidiary for trading with oil, according to Marketwatch. The new company is going to trade with oil produced by Caspian Sunrise. It is expected that the net price of the oil will be raised by $5-10 per barrel.

Currently, Caspian Sunrise produces about 2,400 barrels of oil a day.

On Friday, Caspian Sunrise announced it will allocate $1.1 million for dividend payouts.

«The company’s board is going to allocate for future dividend payouts £1 million per month or 35-40% from free cash flow,» Marketwatch said.

Caspian Sunrise PLC is engaged in oil and gas...

The government of Uzbekistan is going to attract $120 billion of investments by 2026, said Omonullo Nasritdinhojayev, the country’s first deputy minister of finance, during the second Uzbekistan Economic Forum in Samarkand. According to the official, the government wants to attract direct investments through the privatization of public assets and public-private partnerships.

Akmalkhon Ortikov, head of the State Assets Management Agency of Uzbekistan (SAMA), noted that so far this year the government sold more than one thousand public assets. However, most of them are small. The reason the government hasn’t sold larger assets is that «this is just the beginning...

Uzbekistan Airways and Uzbekistan Airports revealed positive financial results over the first nine months this year. Surging demand for air travel in the country is the main driver of this increase in revenue, according to open-source data.

Uzbekistan Airways reported a net profit of $45.7 million within the reporting period, thanks to virtually twofold growth in earnings to $773.2 million. For comparison, the company reported $2.9 million in losses over the same period last year. Interestingly, the prime cost accounts for 75% of earnings for both years.

As a result of this revenue, the airline cut its uncovered losses for...

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kazakhstan is going to intensify its fight against human trafficking, according to Interior Minister Marat Akhmetzhanov. During his speech at the Astana Legal Forum 2022, he said that the problem was neglected for years.

The minister has acknowledged that the official statistics do not fully reflect facts on the ground. «For years there was no agency or person who was focused on this problem solely,» he noted.

According to international and nongovernmental organizations, the number of sexual and labor exploitation victims is much higher than the number of opened criminal cases in Kazakhstan.

Akhmetzhanov...

According to the overall development plan for the region, which has been developed by the authorities of the Ulytau region and the Ministry of National Economy, over 2022-2026 the government is going to build a new oil refinery with a capacity of one million tons in the town of Jezkazgan. It is expected that the project will cost about $1 billion and will provide jobs for 300 people.

The plan has already been approved by the country’s cabinet.

The region’s governor Berik Abdygaliyev said that the overall plan includes the implementation of a set of projects.

«The implementation of the...