The new state programme Business Roadmap 2025 will develop new tools of financial support for entrepreneurs and support efficient and competitive businesses, said Kazakh Minister of National Economy Ruslan Dalenov at a recent public meeting. Previously, Kazakhstan’s small- and medium-sized businesses were supported under Business Roadmap 2020 through the issuing of state grants and loans, reduction of interest payments on loans and training of entrepreneurs. Under the new programme, the Kazakh Ministry of National Economy aims to increase the share of small and medium-sized businesses in the economy to 35 percent by 2025 and 50 percent by 2050. The programme will increase loan amounts and engage microfinance organisations to achieve this.
ForteBank’s Forte Femme advertising campaign was Kazakhstan’s first media project to gain recognition at Cannes Lions, shortlisted this year in the prestigious advertising festival’s Media Lions category. The advertising campaign centres on women’s contribution to the country’s economy, noting that women are 52 percent of sole proprietors, own 43 percent of small and medium-sized businesses and contribute 39.5 percent to the gross domestic product in Kazakhstan. ForteBank aims to inspire women to open and develop their own businesses, also releasing the perfume Forte pour Femme under the project Business Is a Women’s Business.
January-May investment in environmental protection in Kazakhstan was 44.2 billion tenge (US$116.01 million), which is four times more than in the same period last year when investment was 10.9 billion tenge (US$28.61 million), reports Energyprom.kz. The Atyrau Region received the greatest amount of investment in environmental protection this year, 24 billion tenge (US$62.99 million), compared to 1.8 billion tenge (US$4.72 million) a year earlier. Also among the regions receiving the greatest investment inflow toward environmental protection, the Akmola and Karaganda Regions received 7.1 billion tenge (US$18.64 million) and 4.1 billion tenge (US$10.76 million), respectively. A year earlier, these regions received 692.8 million tenge (US$1.82 million) and 964 million tenge (US$2.53 million), respectively. The three regions account for 79.8 percent of total investment in environmental protection in the country.
The number of small- and medium-sized businesses operating in Kazakhstan increased 10.2 percent in January-June, reaching 1.31 million, reports Ranking.kz. Within the same period, the number of entrepreneurs working in small- and medium-sized businesses increased 10.5 percent. In the last quarter of 2018, the number of people employed in small and medium-sized businesses was 3.27 million people, which is 37.5 percent of the total number of people employed in the country. The volume of production in the small- and medium-sized business sector was 26.5 trillion tenge (US$69.56 billion) in 2018, 25.3 percent more than a year earlier.
Kazakhstan has vast reserves for attracting investment in the mining and metallurgy industry, said Kazakh Invest Representative Almas Agibayev at the June 12-13 Astana Mining and Metallurgy (AMM) Congress. Investment opportunities include developing copper sites Koskol, Soyuznoe and Bakalyadyr and expanding primary aluminium and gold production. Projected gold resources in Kazakhstan are approximately 9,500 tonnes, and at least $10 billion of investments may be attracted toward extracting and processing gold ores, Agibayev noted. Another sector with high growth potential is mining and rare earth metal processing. The world’s largest tungsten deposits in the Karaganda Region may attract up to $1 billion of investments, and investors are interested in developing the large vanadium-containing ore deposit in the Kyzylorda Region, Bala-Sauskandyk. The AMM Congress gathers government leaders, business executives and experts to discuss developments in the mining and metallurgical industry, such as digitisation.
