Development Bank of Kazakhstan updates strategy, seeks expansion of private investment
ASTANA – The Development Bank of Kazakhstan (DBK) announced Sept. 29 immediate changes to its development strategy for 2014-2023 which establish expanding private business projects and private funding sources among its key priorities along with expansion of its lending activities and development of new financial instruments, according to the bank’s press service. Established in 2000…
S&P expects Kazakhstan’s GDP to grow 3 percent in 2017-2020
ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s real GDP growth is projected to reach 3 percent in 2017-2020, according to the recent S&P Global Ratings report. The implementation of government infrastructure development programmes and expanding oil production at the Kashagan oilfield, one of the world’s largest fields discovered in the past 40 years, are cited as main drivers of…
First Astana Media Week takes place in capital
ASTANA – The first Astana Media Week kicked off in the capital city Oct. 4, bringing major media corporations and production companies together to set up partnerships and draw attention to salient issues in the nation’s media industry. Organised by the Ministry of Information and Communication, the three-day event incorporating talks, meetings and seminars is…
Inflation to remain in 6.9-7.5% targeted corridor in 2017, says Kazakh NB governor
ASTANA – Kazakh National Bank Governor Daniyar Akishev said during an Oct. 3 government meeting that inflation is projected to remain in the targeted corridor of 6.9 percent to 7.5 percent until the end of the year. Akishev noted inflation reached 4.2 percent in the first nine months of 2017 and that Kazakhstan seeks…
Astana hosts national tourism meeting, addresses acute issues
ASTANA – The capital was the site for the national tourism meeting organised by the Ministry for Culture and Sports Sept. 27 that brought together representatives of the ministry, companies and NGOs working in the field to review the acute issues currently facing the industry. The session was part of the Astana Leisure 2017 exhibition…
Kazakhstan needs to establish Kazakh school of Islamic studies, says minister
ASTANA – Kazakh Minister for Religions and Civil Society Affairs Nurlan Yermekbayev spoke about the need to establish a Kazakh school of Islamic studies during a Sept. 18 Mazhilis (lower house of Parliament) government hour. The ministry was established in September 2016 and he noted increasing religiosity among those in the population who have become…
More than 1,700 rural settlements to access broadband internet through Digital Kazakhstan
ASTANA – More than 1,700 rural settlements, home to approximately two million people, will gain access to broadband internet as part of the Digital Kazakhstan programme, said Minister of Information and Communication Dauren Abayev during a Sept. 26 government meeting. The government reviewed the progress of the programme that seeks to build an affordable digital…
Draft Latin-based Kazakh alphabet presented in Mazhilis, provokes heated public debate
ASTANA – Kazakh State Secretary Gulshara Adbykalikova, deputies, representatives of state bodies and the alphabet developers attended discussions in the Mazhilis (lower house of Parliament) Sept. 11 about the draft of the Latin alphabet scheduled to enter in force by 2025. The idea of switching from Cyrillic script to Latin script was first voiced by…
Final de-escalation zone established as Syrian talks end in Astana
ASTANA – The sixth round of the international meetings on Syria ended Sept. 15 in Astana with the participants agreeing on a final de-escalation zone in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province. It will be the fourth zone where no military activity would be allowed as envisioned in the May 4 agreement signed by Iran, Russia and…
St. Regis opens hotel in Astana
ASTANA – Astana is becoming an attractive tourist destination, as the young and vibrant city has been recently hosting numerous international events and the Aug. 21 opening of the St. Regis in Astana makes the city an even more appealing destination for sophisticated travellers. With the first flagship St. Regis opening in New York in…
First OIC Summit on Science and Technology takes place in Astana
ASTANA – Sept. 10 in the capital featured not only the spectacular closing of EXPO 2017, a major event in Kazakh history, but also the first Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Summit on Science and Technology, another important opportunity for the nation and the organisation’s 57 members. The summit adopted the Astana Declaration affirming the…
Kazakhstan imports $62.8 million in tea in six months
ASTANA – Kazakhstan imported 17,200 tonnes of tea worth $62.8 million in the first six months of the year. The world’s largest tea importers include Kenya, India, Russia, Sri Lanka and China. Sales rose 15 percent despite a 16-percent increase in coffee and tea prices and an average price of 2,900 tenge (US$8.53) per kilogram…
Astana hosts Global Islamic Finance Awards
ASTANA – The Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) hosted Sept. 6 the Global Islamic Finance Awards (GIFA), a prestigious award honouring individuals and institutions that have contributed to the promotion of Islamic banking and finance. Established in 2011 by Edbiz Corporation, an international Shariah advisory firm, the award seeks to push Islamic banking and finance…
Kazakh energy sector investments to total $57 billion in 2017-2025
ASTANA – Investments in Kazakhstan’s energy sector will total 19 trillion tenge (US$57 billion) in 2017-2025 and 97 percent will be private investments, Kazakh Minister of Energy Kanat Bozumbayev told the Sept. 7-8 11th Kazenergy Eurasian Forum in Astana. The forum’s theme this year was Securing the Future of Energy. Highlighting the event was the…
Kazakh girls win Technovation Challenge in Silicon Valley, say will go on inventing
ASTANA – A team of Kazakh girls won the grand prize at the 2017 Technovation World Pitch Summit organised by Google Aug. 10. Girls aged 10-18 from more than 30 countries around the globe competed in 102 teams over the five-day event in Silicon Valley. Only six, including two teams from Kazakhstan, made it to…
Energy intensity drops 28 percent in Kazakhstan
ASTANA – The energy intensity of Kazakhstan’s economy has decreased by 28 percent since 2008, Kazakhstan’s First Vice Minister of Investment and Development Alik Aidarbayev said during a Sept. 5 press conference on the nation’s energy saving policies. Energy intensity is measured as the quantity of energy per unit of gross domestic product (GDP); as…
Objective factors affect investors’ decision to invest in Kazakhstan, says Kazakh Invest executive
ASTANA – Various objective factors, including the global political situation and unstable tenge rate, affect the investment climate in Kazakhstan, which Kazakh Invest Deputy Chair Nursultan Zhienbayev said complicate investors’ decision-making processes about the profitability and safety of investing in the country’s economy. Established in March, Kazakh Invest works to promote investment activities in the…
Kazakhstan steps up radicalism prevention efforts
ASTANA – Work to prevent the spread of religious radicalism is well underway in Kazakhstan, as state agencies led by the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Civil Society are implementing a comprehensive set of measures to contend with the problem. The action is in line with the fifth direction in the nation’s Third Modernisation, Global…
Kazakh economy grows 4 percent in 2017 so far, projected to grow 3.4 percent by year’s end
ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s economy has witnessed a 4-percent growth in the first seven months of 2017 and Minister of Economy Timur Suleimenov marked the overall macroeconomic stability during an Aug. 29 government meeting that focused on the main priorities of the nation’s socio-economic development for 2018-2022. The government also approved the budget for the next…
Zaman-Bank becomes Kazakhstan’s second Islamic Bank
ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s previously commercial Zaman-Bank became an official Islamic bank Aug. 17 after receiving a license from the National Bank of Kazakhstan. The license allows the bank to tap into the Islamic banking sector and makes Zaman-Bank the second Islamic bank in the country. Established in 1991, Zaman-Bank announced plans to convert to an…
More than 250 projects worth $5.1 billion launched in first two years of industrialisation plan
ASTANA – Kazakhstan launched 258 projects worth 1.7 trillion tenge (US$5.1 billion) in the first two years of its second five-year industrialisation plan. The plan is meant to diversify the country’s economy and boost domestic production. Kazakhstan’s First Vice Minister of Investments and Development Alik Aidarbayev reported on the country’s progress in its State Industrial…
Charity Tour de Burabay marks fifth anniversary, raises $481,000
ASTANA – Charity Tour de Burabay, an annual cycling ride for charity, gathered 1,500 people Aug. 19, including 718 participants along with professional cyclists, sports and government representatives, to experience a 30-kilometre journey through Burabay scenery, one of the most popular resort areas in Kazakhstan. Celebrating its fifth anniversary, the event raised 160 million tenge…
African countries celebrate National Day with energetic dances, coffee and tea tastings
ASTANA – The African countries participating in EXPO 2017 celebrated the continent’s National Day Aug. 15 by featuring dance and musical performances as well as extensive discussions between young people from Kazakhstan and Africa. The African Plaza stretches across 2,700 square metres representing 25 countries and their approaches to green energy development. National Day was…
As trade booms, Kazakhstan, Romania are stepping up bilateral relations, Bucharest envoy says
ASTANA – Kazakhstan and Romania are taking bilateral cooperation to a new level, tapping into the huge potential for extensive partnerships between the two nations, Ambassador of Romania to Kazakhstan Cezar Manole Armeanu told The Astana Times during a discussion of prospects for Kazakh-Romanian cooperation and priorities for his term. Armeanu embarked on his duties…
EAEU to adopt pension mobility across member states
ASTANA – The Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) will have a common pension space soon, ensuring equal pension rights for people across the union. Сitizens of five EAEU member states Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia will also be able to use their drivers’ licences in all member-states, as work is underway to finalise legislative issues…
