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According to Erbol Karashukeev, the minister of agriculture in Kazakhstan, imports of sugar from Russia and Belarus used to take about ten days. Now the import of sugar from other countries takes about 90 days.

As the official noted, Kazakhstan imports sugar from Brazil and India. With a production capacity of 800 million tons of the product, these two countries account for 60% of the global sugar-cane production.

«We have imported sugar from Brazil through Georgian ports on the Black Sea. Their capacity is limited, therefore local transport infrastructure doesn’t work well and it leads to a transport collapse,» he...

So far, the Qazaqstan Halqyna Fund has accumulated $269.7 million. The fund is going to spend this money on charity in the area of health, education, social support and sports. In order to achieve this goal with maximum efficacy, the fund has initiated an open discussion of a new concept of the fund’s development with NGOs.

Social alternatives

Some NGOs believe that the Qazaqstan Halqyna Fund must be an active part of broad efforts in the field of social support for people. For example, the fund may support centers for social services where disabled and poor people can...

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan has proposed creating an integrated commodity distribution system for Central Asian countries. He made this statement during the IV Consultative Meeting of the Heads of Central Asian States.

As the president noted, it is necessary to establish close interaction between the countries to get rid of any structural and infrastructural obstacles.

«It would be helpful to take effective measures to establish a network of border trading hubs. They should be pillars for the integrated commodity distribution system of the Central Asian countries and this system must be expandable,» Tokayev said.

According to the president, Kazakhstan...

During the IV Consultative Meeting of the Heads of Central Asian States, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said that Kazakhstan wants to increase the turnover with Central Asian states to $15 billion a year.

The president noted that the country’s turnover with its Central Asian neighbors is constantly growing. Over the past five years, the rate rose by 42% and reached $6.3 billion.

«Our key goal still is improving the economic base for multilateral interaction. We have reached some tangible results over the past few years,» the president highlighted.

Over the period from January to May 2022, the turnover of the Republic...

Kazakhstan has negotiated with 43 foreign companies that have left Russia this year, about opening new production sites or moving their headquarters to Kazakhstan, according to Almas Aydarov, deputy foreign minister in Kazakhstan. He made this statement at the opening ceremony of a new production site of Honeywell in Almaty. 

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, more than 500 foreign companies left Russia or suspended their activity in that country. Kazakhstan’s MFO in conjunction with Kazakh Invest has negotiated with half of them, as the country wants them to relocate their production sites or headquarters to Kazakhstan.

«We have specified...

In June 2022, citizens of Kazakhstan acquired 318 real estate properties in the Turkish Republic, according to local authorities. Over the first half of the year, Kazakhstanis bought 80% more property than the same period last year or the same periods of 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020 combined.

So far, people from Kazakhstan have bought 1,417 property units this year. In terms of interest in Turkish real estate, Kazakhstanis rank fourth after Russians (5,849), Iranians (4,884) and Iraqis (4,025). Last year the country was ranked sixth, while Russia was third.

Polymetal Group, an Anglo-Russian precious mining company, is weighing the idea of selling its assets in Russia. The company wants to focus on projects in Kazakhstan, according to the company’s press release on the official website.

The company has officially confirmed that it «has been considering a potential modification of its asset holding structure which would ensure distinct ownership in the various jurisdictions in which the company operates. The company announced that it is evaluating the potential disposal of the company’s assets located in the Russian Federation.»

«If completed, the potential transaction would result in the company focusing primarily on...

Kazakhstan continues its fighting against illegal digital miners. Over the past three months the number of entities that have officially notified the Ministry of Digital Development, Innovations and Aerospace Industry about their work in the field of digital mining has increased by one-third, the agency said.

The data about the number of companies involved in digital mining or providing any equipment or services for it is updated every three months. Data published in July shows that over the period from April to June 2022, the number of cryptocurrency industry representatives increased from 248 to 330 (33%). About 19% of them...

Last week the Kursiv editions wrote about the big deal on the Kazakhstani IT market now we know some details. Evgeny Chsherbinin, CEO of Prime Source, a Kazakhstani software development company and Peter B. Ritz, CEO of FatBrain AI, an American IT company, held a press briefing in Almaty (Mr. Ritz participated online). According to Mr. Ritz, once the company equities are bought from Prime Source owners, FatBrain will not change the management structure of the firm.

«When we are buying an equity from an owner we are going to help that company to grow and scale up its business...

The turnover of non-commodity goods in Kazakhstan over the period from January to May 2022 reached $25.3 billion. This is a 20.4% increase over the same period last year ($21.0 billion). At the same time, exports of non-commodity goods from Kazakhstan rose by 34.7% and reached $9.7 billion, according to the Ministry of Trade citing QazTrade.

As the ministry reported the increase in exports is based on non-commodity goods such as ferroalloys (61.1%), uranium (260%), copper and cathode copper (25.3%), flour (86%), unprocessed zinc, aluminum oxide and aluminum hydroxide (89.2%), sulfur except vaporized sulfur and sulfur colloid (350%).

Also, Kazakhstan...

Officials in Kazakhstan will no longer require hard copies of documents with blue stamps on them. The country has entered into a new era where digital documents and their hard copies possess the same power, according to the new law on the promotion of innovations, development of digitalization and information security signed by President Tokayev on July 15.

The new legislation prohibits any state agency from requiring hard copy documents if they can be downloaded from the public information system.

Also, the government has changed its approach to the servicing of the e-government. Now, it wants local IT companies to...

Almost two-thirds of the $5.2 billion loans the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has allocated for Central and West Asia were spent on the fighting against COVID-19. However, some funds were allocated for the development of urban and rural infrastructure, according to the bank’s report.

«As of today, the ADB has provided Uzbekistan with 228 loans, grants and technical support at a total value of $10.4 billion. The current portfolio of the ADB’s sovereign projects in Uzbekistan includes 34 loans and one grant for $4.91 billion,» said Cyndi Malvicini, head of the ADB representative office in Uzbekistan.

In 2021 the bank...

The deal, which is quite big for the local market, might be closed soon, as a person familiar with the question reported to the Kursiv edition. FatBrain AI, an American publicly traded software company, has completed negotiations with Prime Source, one of the key players in the domestic IT market. The Kursiv edition has already found documents in open sources that confirm this information.

Prime Source ranks as one of the top five Kazakhstani software developers. Also, the company is the largest independent player in the industry, according to Kursiv Research. Software developed by Prime Source is used, for example...

On July 14, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan ordered the government to take measures needed to facilitate big western companies to relocate to Kazakhstan from Russia.

As the president noted, all of us are witnesses of the global competition for investment capital.

«One in two from about 1,400 big foreign companies has suspended its business activities in Russia or even left that country. Kazakhstan’s government should do everything needed to make our country attractive for their relocation. This is going to be very helpful in creating new opportunities for the production of different value-added products,» he said.

Tokayev noted that...

Kazakhstan must produce phosphate and potassium fertilizers on its own. The country needs to decrease the amount of these products exported from some foreign countries, including Russia, according to President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

The president noted that local farmers have been trying to use fewer fertilizers than needed for years.

«These fertilizers are costly. Kazakhstan’s market desperately depends on imports and just a few local producers. Moreover, we’ve learned that some suppliers have ripped off our farmers. For example, a company called Kazphosphate used to sell a huge amount of fertilizers to affiliated company Kazchemical Trading House, which later charged clients...

Over the period from January to April 2022, Kazakhstani producers of macaroni products earned more than $24.5 million from the product exports. Their shipments abroad have risen by 18% while revenues increased by 30%, according to QazTrade, a public entity facilitating foreign trade in Kazakhstan.

The Bureau of National Statistics reported that during the first four months of the year, Kazakhstani companies produced about 56,200 tons of macaroni products. This is a 10% increase over the same period last year.

The vast majority of this volume (57%) has been consumed domestically, while the rest were exported abroad. Among the key...

Russia and Belarus may attempt to evade U.S. export control. For that purpose, they can use so-called transit countries, according to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS).

The BIS has identified countries that facilitate the transit of sanctioned goods as transshipment points. Among them are Armenia, Brazil, China, Georgia, India, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, Nicaragua, Serbia, Singapore, South Africa, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Turkey, the UAE and Uzbekistan.

«In some instances, controlled U.S. items may be legally exported to these and other jurisdictions as inputs for the production of other...

Galymzhan Pirmatov, head of the National Bank of Kazakhstan has explained the differences in the monetary policies between Russia and Kazakhstan. He said that in contrast to Russia, Kazakhstan doesn’t face the risk of recession anytime soon.

However, the official believes that amid the decline in business activities, demand and economic growth, the inflation pressure on the country continues to grow.

«Indeed, some experts compare the base rates in Kazakhstan and Russia. In February, the Bank of Russia raised the rate from 9.5% to 20%, even though later the regulator decreased the rate to 9.5% to keep the country’s economy...

According to Kassym Tlepov, head of the Transportation Committee under the Ministry of Industry and Infrastructural Development, Kazakhstan is going to enter into operation two additional bulk carriers on the Caspian Sea.

As the official noted, the potential of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR) hasn’t been used fully. However, the country has already built a ferry complex in the port of Aktau.

«We’ve taken a range of measures to extend the capacity of the existing port of Aktau. In particular, we have built three dry bulk terminals. As of today, this infrastructure has a capacity of 21 million tons...

The government of Uzbekistan wants to open an International Financial Center (IFC) in Tashkent and is now reviewing three types of such centers. The issue was publicly discussed at a conference organized by the Strategic Development Agency (SDA).

«The establishing of an IFC is one of the strategic goals for the development of Uzbekistan. This must be a global platform to attract new investments to the country and facilitate the management of capital equity. According to the World Bank’s statistics, the presence of an IFC may contribute about 1% to the country’s GDP,» said Aziz Gafurov, deputy head of the...

The court in Krasnodar, Russia, has canceled the previous decision to stop the operation of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), the Kommersant reported.

Now the company is obliged to pay a fee of $3,264.

On July 11, the Krasnodar district court reviewed an appeal by the CPC as the company has argued that the suspension of its operation would ruin the entire production cycle.

Earlier on July 5, the Primorsk district court in Novorossiysk suspended work of the CPC’s sea terminal in Novorossiysk for 30 days due to technical violations Roskomnadzor found there.

Right after that, the CPC lawyers sent...

Elena Rybakina, a Kazakhstani tennis player who won Wimbledon women’s singles, will get about $2.4 million as an award.

The total prize fund of the British tennis tournament is more than $48.5 million; $2.4 million was earned by the Kazakhstani tennis player.

Thanks to the win in Wimbledon, Rybakini has passed a $3 million threshold this season. In terms of her professional career, she has made more than $7 million in total.

During the final game of the British Grand Slam, Elena beat Ons Jabeur from Tunis in the two last sets in a row (3:6, 6:2, 6:2). The match...

In a letter to the district court of Novorossiysk, the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) has appealed to the court to suspend its decision regarding the CPC until the authorities consider the company’s complaint. On July 5, the court issued a rule that requires the CPC to stop all its activities.

«The administrative punishment through banning the company from working must be implemented immediately. However, the law prohibits taking any actions that can cause irreversible consequences for the production process,» the CPC said in the appeal.

As the consortium noted, the CPC is a nonstop operating enterprise; therefore, any suspension of...

Last week I had a conversation with Constantinos Herodotou, the head of the Central Bank of Cyprus and a member of the Boarding Council of the European Central Bank (ECB). Mr. Herodotou is one of the narrow circle of people who make decisions on the ECB’s rates. In the course of the conversation, we touched on the topic of interest rates and he made a very important remark all decision-makers in central banks all over the world should keep in mind. Like antibiotics or antidepressants, an interest rate is a tool that has a long-term effect. Any such rate has...