ASTANA — Intra-regional foreign direct investment (FDI) in Central Asia has surged to $1.3 billion, a 42% increase from 2023, with nearly 80% of the capital directed into construction, manufacturing, and the financial sector, signalling the region’s focus on strengthening its production and infrastructure base. The data comes from a Dec. 11 report by the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB), published under its flagship Mutual Investments Monitoring project.
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Kazakhstan stands out as a central player in this investment upswing. The country is one of the region’s largest investors and recipients of capital, with $3.25 billion in outward FDI and $9.4 billion in inward flows, accounting for 19.5% of all mutual regional investment. Kazakhstan’s outbound capital is increasingly directed toward Uzbekistan, where Kazakh investments grew 60% over the past 18 months, primarily in the construction sector.
Uzbekistan, meanwhile, remains the region’s largest FDI recipient, attracting $10.7 billion, or 22.3% of the Eurasian total. The country also doubled its outward investment compared to 2023, reaching $396 million, with 85% of those funds invested in manufacturing projects across the region. Russia remains Uzbekistan’s dominant investor, providing 90% of all capital inflows.
Overall, the EDB notes that investment activity in the Eurasian region continues to rise despite a global FDI downturn, which fell by 11% in 2024. By mid-2025, accumulated intra-regional FDI reached a record $48.4 billion, driven primarily by private companies.
According to the EDB’s Deputy Chairman of the Management Board and Chief Economist Evgeny Vinokurov, mutual investment in Central Asia is expanding “especially rapidly.” Over the past five years, the average annual growth rate of intra-Central Asian investment reached 24.4%, outpacing the broader Eurasian region.
“This growth is driven by Kazakhstan’s successful investment climate reforms and Uzbekistan’s active policy of encouraging foreign investment,” Vinokurov said.
Private businesses continue to play a pivotal role: their share of mutual investment has risen from 63% in 2016 to 72% by mid-2025, bringing total private-sector FDI to $34.7 billion, nearly $13 billion more than before. For the first time, greenfield projects have overtaken brownfield investments, accounting for 40% of the total.
Three major sectors dominate mutual FDI flows across the region: extractives ($14.3 billion), manufacturing ($8.9 billion), and transport and logistics ($5.4 billion).
Together, they make nearly 60% of all investments. But the structure is shifting. Over the past 18 months, the extractive sector’s share declined by four percentage points (to 29.6%), while manufacturing and finance saw the largest gains. Growth in manufacturing has been primarily driven by Kazakhstan’s expanding petrochemical and fertilizer industries. The rise in financial-sector activity has been supported by Georgian investors, who have acquired stakes in banking assets in Armenia, Belarus, and Uzbekistan.
Russia remains the region’s single largest investor, accounting for 78.6% of all outward mutual FDI ($38 billion), primarily directed toward the oil and gas sectors of neighboring states. Inward FDI into Russia from other Eurasian economies remains comparatively low at $3.6 billion.
