ASTANA — Chinese business publication All China Review on July 16 placed Kazakhstan at the center of Central Asia’s economic growth, citing its output, investment stock, banking system and transit role. Kazakh economists said the country’s position rests on the combined weight of these factors.
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Published on the day President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Shanghai, the article compares the five Central Asian economies through their scale, structure, financial capacity and links with China.
The structure behind the scale
According to All China Review, Kazakhstan’s nominal gross domestic product (GDP) reached $306 billion in 2025, accounting for 53.7% of Central Asia’s combined output.
Uzbekistan recorded $147.1 billion, followed by Turkmenistan at $77.4 billion, the Kyrgyz Republic at $21.6 billion and Tajikistan at $17.5 billion.
Financial analyst Andrey Chebotarev Photo credit: Chebotarev’s Instagram page
The gap was also reflected in GDP per capita, which stood at approximately $15,000 in Kazakhstan, compared with $11,600 in Turkmenistan, $3,800 in Uzbekistan, $3,000 in the Kyrgyz Republic and $1,700 in Tajikistan.
The publication links Kazakhstan’s regional position to the structure of its economy, highlighting the contributions of trade, manufacturing and mining, as well as the overall scale of its economy. Trade accounts for close to 20% of gross value added, while manufacturing contributes 13% and mining 11.9%.
It also points to the expansion of manufacturing, digital industries, logistics, financial services and innovation-driven sectors as part of efforts to reduce reliance on commodity exports.
Financial analyst Andrey Chebotarev offered a brief reflection on the article in a post on his Finance.kz Telegram channel.
“Sometimes it is useful to see ourselves through someone else’s eyes,” he wrote.
Capital and financial capacity
Foreign direct investment (FDI) provides one of the widest gaps in the comparison.
Citing United Nations Trade and Development data, All China Review reported that Central Asia’s accumulated inward FDI reached $220.5 billion in 2024. Kazakhstan accounted for $151.3 billion, or 68.6% of the total. Turkmenistan held $44.6 billion, Uzbekistan $16.7 billion, while the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan each accounted for approximately $4 billion.
The figures cover investment accumulated over time, reflecting Kazakhstan’s longer history of attracting projects in energy, mining, infrastructure and other sectors. The publication links this concentration to the size of its market, its location between Europe and Asia, and its financial infrastructure and investment framework.
Kazakhstan also has the region’s largest banking system. Banking-sector assets reached $140 billion as of January 2026, while deposits totaled $96.4 billion.
According to the All China Review, the larger deposit base provides more stable funding for private-sector lending and long-term investment. The figures establish Kazakhstan’s lead in financial scale, though they do not address lending costs, access to credit or competition within the sector.
China ties extend beyond trade
Kazakhstan’s economic relationship with China forms a central part of the article. Bilateral trade reached a record $48 billion in 2025, according to Kazakh government data cited by the publication. The two countries aim to increase that figure to $100 billion by 2030.
Accumulated Chinese direct investment in Kazakhstan stood at approximately $11.4 billion by mid-2025, according to Eurasian Development Bank figures included in the article. All China Review described it as the largest amount among the five Central Asian states and close to one-third of Chinese capital invested in the region.
Transport adds another dimension to the relationship. More than 85% of overland cargo between China and Europe passes through Kazakhstan, while bilateral rail freight reached 35.6 million tons in 2025, up 11% from the previous year.
Kazakhstan has invested more than $35 billion in transport and transit infrastructure over the past seven years, according to the publication. Projects include the Aktau container hub, Kazakhstan’s dry port in Xi’an and the second track on the Dostyk-Moyynty railway.
They support routes connecting China with the Caspian Sea and Europe, including the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, also known as the Middle Corridor.
Industrial cooperation is developing alongside trade and transit. Kazakhstan and China have completed 62 joint projects worth $8.7 billion, creating approximately 11,000 jobs.
Another 55 projects valued at $13.5 billion are under development, while a wider portfolio includes 222 proposed projects worth more than $60.5 billion. The sectors range from agricultural processing and metallurgy to unmanned aerial vehicle manufacturing.
Economist Ruslan Sultanov wrote on his Tengenomika Telegram channel that Kazakhstan’s position cannot be attributed solely to territory or natural resources.
“Kazakhstan’s competitive advantage is based not only on its large territory or rich natural resources. It is based on a combination of economic scale, a developed banking system, the region’s largest volume of foreign investment, modern transport corridors and close economic ties with China,” he wrote.
