The number of foreigners who visited Kazakhstan in the first half of 2018 increased by almost 30%, Kazpravda.kz correspondent quotes Kazakh Tourism NC board chairman, Rashid Kuzembaev, as saying at a press conference in the CCS.

"Statistics of the first quarter of this year shows positive dynamics. The number of Kazakhstanis...

During an official visit of the military delegation of Uzbekistan, the Defense Ministers of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, Colonel-General Saken Zhasuzakov and Major-General Abdusalom Azizov attended the active phase of the joint tactical special exercise, Kazpravda.kz reports citing the press service of Kazakhstan Ministry of Defense.

During the exercise, the special operations...

Kazakhstan placed 77th on the 2018 Decoding Global Talent report, improving from 129th in 2014. The Boston Consulting Group and The Network, an international online recruitment company, joined to create one of the largest surveys of labour trends and work preferences – 366,000 individuals in 197 countries, according to bcg.com.

Kazakhstan...

Kazhydromet RSE issued weather forecast in Kazakhstan on July 17-19.

"Hot and rainless weather with air temperature plus 40 ... 43 degrees is expected in the south, south-west, and some parts in the west of Kazakhstan in the next three days. This weather is associated with migration of very hot air...

Kazakhstan’s benchmark Urals crude’s differentials eased in northwest Europe on Monday as Russia signals it can ramp up output further as part of its deal with OPEC and as local refineries may cut runs.

In the Platts window, Shell sold a Urals cargo in the Baltic to Unipec at dated Brent...

Oil prices slumped 4 percent on Monday, with Brent reaching a three-month low, as Libyan ports reopened and traders eyed potential supply increases by Russia and other producers.

Brent crude futures fell $3.09 to $72.24 a barrel, a 4.1 percent loss, by 11:34 a.m. EDT (1534 GMT), while U.S. West Texas...

Russia and US are competitors in oil and gas exports, but there is room for cooperation in regulating the energy market, said Russian President Vladimir Putin during the Helsinki press conference with US President Donald Trump.

"I believe that we, as the largest oil and gas powers, could work constructively to...

US President Donald Trump should accept Germany’s decision to greenlight the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, intended to boost natural gas sales from Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to Europe, Chairman of Alternative for Germany party Jorg Meuthen told Izvestia. The German politician is scheduled to arrive in Russia...

British wholesale gas prices rose on Monday morning as low wind energy output drove up gas-to-power demand.

* Gas for immediate delivery was up 1.00 pence at 59.00 pence per therm at 0849 GMT

* Gas for day-ahead delivery was 0.65 pence higher at 58.85 p/therm

* “Wind output is still low, continuing...

Head of State Nursultan Nazarbayev has received National Bank Chairman Daniyar Akishev, Akorda press service reports.

The latter reported on the outcomes of the National Bank work for the first six months of 2018. 

The President noted that the country created necessary conditions for preserving stability at the monetary and financial market...

The head of Kazakh Invest and general secretary of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Association of Foreign Investors signed a bilateral cooperation agreement as part of Kazakhstan Global Investment Roundtable 2018 in early July.

Saparbek Tuyakbaev and Jamal Saif Al Jarwan discussed cooperating and implementing current and new Arab investment projects...

The Astana city government collected in 2017 the highest amount of revenue in 10 years, reported finprom.kz. The past year also witnessed greater investment into Astana’s fixed assets.

“Astana’s budget revenue reached a record high of 469.4 billion tenge (US$1.37 billion) in the last ten years. Tax revenue contribution increased from...

The Kazakh National Bank and the Uzbek Central Bank signed July 10 an agreement to exchange information in the banking sector that will allow Kazakh banks to open subsidiaries and offices in Uzbekistan, said Kazakh National Bank Chair Daniyar Akishev at a press conference following the signing of the agreement.

Kazakh...

Based on results of trades on the spot-market:

- weighted average US dollar rate with settlements T+0 in tenge (USDKZT_TOD) made KZT342.44 per US dollar at the trades volume USD55,000 th.;

- on US dollar with settlements Т+1 and Т+2 in tenge no deals were made, at the session close quotes...

The dollar fell on Monday, having posted its largest weekly gain in a month last Friday, as risk appetite improved, prompting investors to pare back some of their long bets on the greenback, which has grown substantially over the last few weeks.

The positive outlook for the dollar has not changed,...

Kanysh Satbayev Kazakh National Technical University and ArcelorMittal Temirtau will begin a joint venture to explore and produce coalbed methane in the Karaganda coal basin, reported the university press service.

Coalbed methane is a gas present in active, working mine sites. According to forecasts, its resources in the Karaganda coal basin,...

Gold steadied on Monday as the dollar slipped, but higher interest rates in the United States weighing on investor demand and a weak physical market are expected to pressure prices of the precious metal.

Spot gold was up 0.2 percent at $1,243.07 an ounce at 1201 GMT, after marking the lowest...

Copper eased along with most other metals in London on Monday after data showed that China’s economy expanded at a slower pace in the second quarter, pointing to weaker demand.

Benchmark copper edged down 1 percent to $6,174 per tonne in official rings, hovering near one-year lows. Prices are down about...

As of July 1, 2018, the registered carry-over stocks of oilseeds in Kazakhstan totaled 386.27 thsd tonnes, including 52.01 thsd tonnes in farming households, reported the Statistics Committee of the Ministry of National Economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

In particular, sunflower seed stocks totaled 175.37 thsd tonnes, rapeseed 34.42 thsd...

Chicago soybean futures edged down on Monday to set fresh decades lows as the prospect that a U.S.-China trade clash will weaken demand continued to hang over the oilseed market. 

Benign weather for soybean and corn in the U.S. Midwest, with crops forecast to see cooler temperatures and some rain in...

July 16 in Ukimet Uyi, the Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev held a meeting on project management of the Third Modernization of Kazakhstan.

At the meeting, preliminary reports for the first half year and plans for 2018 on issues of technological renewal and digitalization of the economy, development of information and communication...

Russian Aeroflot airline is launching regular flights between Moscow and Kazakh Kyzylorda city, the company said in a message.

Flights will be carried out starting from July 15, 2018 four times a week on Airbus A320 and Sukhoi Superjet 100.

Flights from Moscow will be carried out on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and...

Enjoyable vacations are respites appreciated by all. To accommodate travelers, priorities of developing tourism infrastructure needs to consider the viewpoints of local industry associations, residents and entrepreneurs, and government projects must facilitate affordable, cost-effective and comfortable getaways, said Chair of Atameken National Chamber of Entrepreneurs Timur Kulibayev.

He recently discussed the...

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in conjunction with the Kazakh government has opened a reception area at the Tanbaly (also Tamgaly) historic and archaeological site for tourists and guests to view 3,000-year old artefacts.

The open-air museum is in the Ile-Balkhash zone, the pilot territory of the UNDP project to...

President Donald Trump described his much anticipated meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin as “off to a good start,” after meeting one-on-one with Putin for over two hours on Monday, RT reports.

Trump made his remarks to reporters before the start of a ‘working lunch’ with Putin and his aides, which...

Russia may borrow $1 billion from BRICS New Development Bank for infrastructure projects, Deputy Finance Minister Sergey Storchak told reporters on Monday.

"With the new BRICS development bank alone we are now preparing four new loans," Storchak said. He added that these loans altogether would be slightly more than $1 billion,...

One of Russia’s largest banks, VTB is seeking to decrease the share of US dollar transactions at home as locals are choosing the Russian ruble over the greenback.

“There is one interesting thing I wanted to highlight. Since the beginning of this year, people seem to be less interested in making...

China's GDP growth reached 6.8 percent year-on-year in the first half of this year, beating general market expectations, according to official data released on Monday.

Growth in the second quarter was 6.7 percent, compared with 6.8 percent in the first quarter, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

Retail sales increased...

China may remove more items from its recently announced negative list amid efforts to further open up its market to foreign investors, a stance that will help consolidate the global multilateral governance system, senior experts and officials said.

"China has a firm stance to promote globalization amid protectionism threats," said Yuan...

China Railway Construction Group Co Ltd or CRCG will quicken its overseas expansion in the coming years to exploit growth opportunities presented by the Belt and Road Initiative.

A builder of railway-related infrastructure like stations, staff housing, office buildings, departmental hospitals and hotels, CRCG is expecting a 25 percent increase to...

The average monthly nominal accrued salary in Uzbekistan amounted to about 1.61 million soum in January-March 2018, which is 21.4 percent more compared to the same period in 2017.

According to the data of the State Statistics Committee, this amount includes allowances for wages, remuneration, incentive payments, compensation payments and payment...

Chinese companies have invested about $800 million in Azerbaijan, Azerbaijani Economy Minister Shahin Mustafayev said during a meeting with the Ambassador of China to Azerbaijan Wei Jinghua.

Addressing the meeting, the minister stressed that Azerbaijan attaches special importance to cooperation with China, according to AzerNews.

Speaking about the development of relations with...

Norway’s Equinor company’s plan is to drill an appraisal well in Karabakh oil and gas field in Azerbaijan, the firm announced, commenting on the planned initial work to be carried out under the agreements signed with Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR in May this year.

"We are discussing plans and timing...

The Government of Mongolia aims to attract one million tourists by 2020 and increasing revenue from the sector to $1 billion. For this propose, Mongolia needs to increase the number of tourists by 30 percent per year for three years, news.mn reports.

Last year, Mongolia received over 470 thousand tourists in...

Date: July 17, 2018; Source: Bloomberg.com

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Precious and Industrial Metals

Agriculture

Date: July 17, 2018; Source: the National Bank of Kazakhstan