A regular review meeting of the Kazakhstan–U.S. Enhanced Strategic Partnership Dialog Commission (ESPD) was held via videoconference. The event was co-chaired by Akan Rakhmetullin, Deputy Foreign Minister, and Ervin Massinga, Acting Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs.

The main purpose of the Commission meeting was to...

Ambassador-Designate of Kazakhstan to Belgium Margulan Baimukhan met with the Head of the Regional Office for Disaster Risk Reduction of the United Nations (UNDRR), Octavian Bivol.

On June 1, 2021, the UNDRR’s Brussels-based office, which covers cooperation with 55 nations, was renamed into the UNDRR Regional Office for Europe and Central...

At the end of the first quarter of this year, the employed population in Kazakhstan amounted to 8.78 million people, 0.1% less than in the first quarter of 2020. Prior to that, the indicator was in the growth zone for 3 years in a row.

Almost half of the population is...

As of Friday morning, 1,174 cases of the coronavirus infection have been detected in the country in the past 24 hours. Nur-Sultan, Almaty cities and the Karaganda region have logged triple-digit numbers of fresh daily COVID-19 cases with 372, 105, and 152, respectively. The East Kazakhstan region has reported 90...

First President of Kazakhstan-Elbasy Nursultan Nazarbayev visited the Astana International Financial Centre.

The Elbasy got familiarized with the AIFC activities, including attractions of large foreign capital in Kazakhstan, human potential and creative industries development. AIFC Governor Kairat Kelimbetov reported on results of the 2025 Centre Development Strategy fulfillment and further plans.

Nursultan...

For 2020, Kazakhstanis have assigned 8.5 billion tenge to financial pyramids these are the official data; public assessment speaks of 500 billion tenge. Modern financial pyramids are disguised as investment, brokerage companies, taking forms sometimes indistinguishable from professionals.

Stock market participants say that having a broker's license to engage in professional...

At the beginning of May, volume of loans has already exceeded 15 trillion tenge. Ramazan Dosov, a leading analyst of the Association of Financiers of Kazakhstan, noted that, according to the National Bank, preference is mainly given to mortgage and consumer loans.

"Of the total portfolio of loans to individuals of...

The National Bank told about what resources will be used to create digital tenge. The financial institute explained that the volume of money issue and other parameters of the pilot project will be determined by the scenarios for using the digital tenge and the technological capabilities of the platform.

"Digital tenge...

Issues of investment cooperation in the mining industry were discussed at a round table held within the framework of the Kazakhstan-China Business Council.

The event was organized by the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan in China and «Samruk-Kazyna» JSC. The round table was attended by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs...

Since 2020, a 3-year moratorium has been in effect in Kazakhstan on inspections of small and micro-businesses. The acting Deputy Chairman of the Board of Atameken NCE Erbol Ustemirov told in what cases state bodies can check entrepreneurs.

According to him, businesses can be checked if there are violations that potentially...

National companies attracted foreign currency loans to pay dividends to their shareholders. This statement was made by the Accounts Committee following the results of the audit of the quasi-public sector. “There are facts when a foreign currency loan was attracted by a subsidiary of one of the largest national companies...

According to the National Bank, as of May 1, 2021, the delay on loans over one year amounted to more than 1 trillion tenge. On the same date in 2018, the figure amounted to 1.07 trillion tenge, minus 6.7%, or 71.6 billion tenge. Of these, individuals including individual entrepreneurs account...

Natalya Godunova, Chairperson of the Accounts Committee, announced the audit data on the use of funds allocated for anti-crisis measures. “There are also questions about the use of anti-crisis funds. Of the 6.9 trillion tenge, 4.5 trillion tenge was checked, of which 2 trillion tenge was audited. Violations were found...

The Senate of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan at a plenary session considered the report of the Government on the execution of the republican budget for 2020, Kazpravda.kz correspondent reports.

As Minister of Finance Yerulan Zhamaubayev noted, the execution of the republican budget in 2020 was carried out in...

As a result of trades in shares on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange on Thursday, the value of the KASE index increased by 0.14% from 3,353.32 to 3,357.86.

The volume of deals in shares, included in the KASE index representative list, decreased against the previous trading day by 3.3 times and amounted...

The weighted average dollar rate on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange on June 17, 2021 at 17:00 amounted to 426.79 tenge. According to KASE information, the minimum rate at the trades amounted to 426 tenge per US dollar, the maximum to 427.05 tenge, the closing rate to 426.70 tenge.

The volume of...

The dollar extended its gains against a basket of currencies on Thursday, a day after the U.S. Federal Reserve surprised markets by signalling it would raise interest rates and end emergency bond-buying sooner than expected.

Fed officials on Wednesday projected an accelerated timetable for rate increases, began talks on how to end...

World equity markets were heading for their biggest fall in weeks on Thursday and U.S. stocks advanced in choppy trading after the U.S. Federal Reserve signaled it might raise interest rates at a much faster pace than assumed.

Bond yields and the dollar rose sharply on the surprise move. The greenback touched...

One of the priority issues is the improvement of pricing in the domestic gas market. Active gasification of regions has led to an increase in gas consumption. Over the past 5 years, the domestic market has increased by 40%, from 12 to 17 billion cubic metres of gas. The price...

The growth in the size of transfers from the National Fund took place in the context of the coronavirus crisis, said Minister of Finance of Kazakhstan Yerulan Zhamaubayev.

“During the discussion of the report, the issue of increasing dependence of the budget on oil revenues was raised. In fact, under the...

On June 16 at 22.19 at the Zhanaozen Industrial Zone, on the territory of KazGPZ LLP, a fire broke out in the compressor shop on the area of 980 square meters.

"There are no casualties or injuries. The fire was localized at 23.02 and extinguished at 23.17. The cause of the...

Crude oil prices fell on Thursday as the U.S. dollar strengthened after the Federal Reserve signalled it might raise interest rates faster than expected, but losses were limited by a big drop in U.S. crude oil inventories.

Brent crude oil futures dropped by 42 cents, or 0.6%, to $73.97 a barrel...

The British wholesale gas price for day-ahead delivery rose on Thursday as flows were expected to be re-routed to the continent tomorrow and amid low wind output.

The day-ahead contract rose by 0.95 pence to 68.95 pence per therm by 0836 GMT.

"The important driver on the bullish side is the expectation for rerouting...

Gold slipped below the $1,800 level on Thursday, after the Federal Reserve signalled earlier-than-expected interest rate increases.

Spot gold fell 0.8% to $1,797.25 per ounce by 1124 GMT, having touched its lowest since May 6 at $1,794.19.

U.S. gold futures fell 3.3% to $1,799.80 per ounce.

A majority of 11 Fed officials projected...

Copper prices fell to their lowest in two months on Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve brought forward its expectations for raising interest rates, sending the dollar higher and sapping demand for metals.

Prices have also been weighed down by top consumer China's plans to release industrial metals from its national...

At the beginning of this year, the length of public roads in Kazakhstan amounted to 95.8 thousand km, 0.1% more than a year earlier. Among them, 38.8 thousand km were roads of regional significance, 32.1 thousand km roads of regional significance, 24.9 thousand km roads of international and national significance.

In...

In the Turkestan region, they plan to attract over 2 trillion tenge for the implementation of new projects. This was reported by the regional administration. During 2021-2025, it is planned to launch 181 projects. Presumably, 2.6 trillion tenge will be invested in the start of these facilities. The opening of...

In the Turkestan region, it is planned to launch two more production facilities for billions by 2023. This was reported in the regional administration. According to the information provided, both projects for 1.3 billion tenge are being implemented in the Maktaaral district.

Thus, a company from Malaysia is investing in the...

60% of the territories in special economic zones are empty. According to the chairman of the Accounts Committee Natalia Godunova, the audit of the SEZ was completed the other day.

"From 2001 to 2019, 372 billion tenge was allocated from the national budget for the development of the SEZ alone, of...

In connection with the rise in prices for products, I decided to see how the wholesale price for them differs from the retail one.

According to the May data of the Bureau of National Statistics, the national average price of beef in retail outlets exceeds 2.1 thousand tenge per 1 kg,...

The lack of a timely response from the Ministry of Agriculture leads to Kazakhstan lagging behind the positive experience of its neighbours. Passivity at the national level leads to the fact that the national interests of Kazakhstani producers are giving way under the pressure of more active countries in the...

More than 8,300 hectares of unused land were returned to the state in the Saryagash region. Active work on the return of unused land is being carried out in the Saryagash region. To date, careless business executives had to return 8,350 hectares to state ownership. Basically, these are pasture lands...

Chicago corn futures slid more than 2% on Thursday and soybeans dropped to a six-week low, as forecasts of improved weather in parts of the United States and a strong rise in the U.S. dollar weighed on prices.

Wheat followed the downward trend after rising earlier in Asian trade and in...

The Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission decided to introduce a unified non-tariff regulation measure in the form of a quantitative export restriction on buckwheat.

The measure is introduced until August 31 of this year and provides for a zero quota for the export of goods from Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and...

From year to year in Kazakhstan, as well as throughout the world, technological solutions are being introduced into all life processes of both individuals and enterprises. The coronavirus pandemic has significantly accelerated the process of digitalisation and technological development. In these conditions, the Internet has become a connecting circulatory system...

Direct investment fund Baiterek Venture Fund announced the successful exit from the project of the Allur Group of Companies.

Allur Group of Companies is a shareholder of the largest car manufacturer in Kazakhstan SaryarkaAvtoProm, an official distributor, manufacturer and dealer of JAC, Ankai, Yutong, Chevrolet, Ravon KIA, Niva Chevrolet, UAZ, MAN...

The summit of the Russian and US presidents, which lasted less than 4 hours, ended better than many predicted. A joint communique on strategic stability was signed, and the ambassadors of both countries are returning in the coming days to work on bilateral relations. Furthermore, in the next six months,...

Russia climbed five spots to 45th place out of 64 in the 2021 IMD World Competitiveness Ranking of the leading economies, according to the annual ranking of the IMD International Business School and the Moscow School of Management Skolkovo.

According to the newspaper, Russia’s higher performance is linked to the development...

The Russian rouble rallied against the euro to its strongest since mid-August on Thursday and firmed versus the dollar after falling to a more than one-week low in the previous session following hawkish signals from the U.S. Federal Reserve.

The rouble strengthened for most of Wednesday after Russian President Vladimir Putin...

China stocks rose on Thursday after three straight sessions of losses as downbeat factory output data eased fears of policy tightening in the world’s second-largest economy.

The CSI300 index rose 0.3%, to 5,096.38 points at the end of the morning session, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.2%, to 3,524.31 points.

The...

China's fiscal revenue jumped 24.2 percent year on year in the first five months of 2021, official data showed Thursday.

According to data released by the Ministry of Finance, the country's fiscal revenue reached nearly 9.65 trillion yuan (about 1.5 trillion U.S. dollars) during the reporting period.

Tax revenue came in at...

Date: June 18, 2021; Source: Bloomberg.com

Date: June 18, 2021; Source: the National Bank of Kazakhstan