S&P Sees Stronger Bank Oversight in Kazakhstan as Credit Growth Slows
ASTANA – S&P Global Ratings improved its assessment of Kazakhstan’s banking industry risk and upgraded or raised the outlooks on several financial institutions, citing stronger supervision as credit growth and banking-sector profits slowed in the first seven months of 2026. In its Sept. 4 release, S&P said stronger supervision, banks’ capital buffers and Kazakhstan’s sovereign…
Top Experts Argue Central Asia Needs Stronger Agency in Emerging Global Order
ASTANA – Central Asia’s best defense against challenging and fragmenting global order lies not in choosing a geopolitical camp but in deeper regional coordination, diversified partnerships and stronger international rules, top experts said during an Aug. 31 discussion in Astana. The five Central Asian states are unlikely to become a separate pole in the emerging…
EXCLUSIVE: First Korea–Central Asia Summit Marks New Phase in Seoul’s Eurasian Strategy
ASTANA — South Korea is moving to place its nearly two-decade engagement with Central Asia on a presidential footing, bringing the region’s five leaders to Seoul in September for an inaugural summit expected to focus on critical-mineral supply chains, energy infrastructure and artificial intelligence, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea Jung Ki-Hong said in an…
Key Appointments, New Government: What Comes After Kazakhstan’s Kurultai Vote
ASTANA – With Kazakhstan’s first Kurultai election concluded and the new unicameral Parliament set to convene for its inaugural session tomorrow, attention now turns to the institutional changes and key appointments that will shape the next phase of the country’s political transition. The Kurultai, named after gatherings when Turkic and Mongol tribes used to make…
Kurultai Vote Raises Stakes for Parties, Parliament and Foreign Policy, Experts Say
ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s first election to the new Kurultai is reshaping more than the country’s parliamentary architecture, said experts at an Aug. 24 meeting in Astana organized by the Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies (KazISS). They pointed to voter turnout, a bigger role for political parties and growing geopolitical competition around Central Asia at a…
Exit Polls Put Adilet Party Near 72% in Kazakhstan’s First Kurultai Election
ASTANA – The Adilet party was projected to receive around 72% of the vote in Kazakhstan’s inaugural election to the Kurultai on Aug. 23, according to three exit polls released at midnight on Aug. 24. Exit polls, which were announced during a live election night broadcast, also showed four other parties narrowly clearing the threshold…
Why Kazakhstan’s AI Challenge Might Not Be Adoption, but Capability
ASTANA – Kazakhstan is moving rapidly to position artificial intelligence at the center of its economic modernization strategy, investing in computing infrastructure, skills, startups and Kazakh-language technologies as governments worldwide compete for a place in the emerging AI economy. Kazakhstan has an increasingly ambitious AI agenda. The government has made AI part of its broader…
What Kazakhstan’s Recent Elections Reveal About Voter Participation
ASTANA – Voter turnout in Kazakhstan has fluctuated considerably in recent national elections, with presidential contests drawing higher participation than the two most recent parliamentary votes, as experts point to party mobilization, geography and public trust as key factors. Turnout is not just how many people cast ballots. It can also offer insight into political…
Kazakh Voters Increasingly Seek Concrete Policy Solutions, Experts Say
ASTANA — Healthcare, education and social protection are emerging as key areas of competition in Kazakhstan’s election campaign, with experts saying voters are increasingly looking beyond broad promises to how seven political parties intend to deliver measurable improvements in quality of life. Those issues were at the center of an Aug. 14 meeting of the…
Two Giant Tungsten Deposits Could Test Kazakhstan’s Push Beyond Raw-Material Exports
ASTANA – Kazakhstan plans to turn two of the world’s largest undeveloped tungsten deposits into the country’s first full-cycle tungsten operation, requiring ore to be processed domestically rather than exported as raw material as Astana seeks to capture more value from its critical mineral reserves. The Northern Katpar and Upper Kairakty deposits are being developed…
What Lies Behind Kazakhstan’s External Debt
ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s external debt rose 7.5% year on year to $182.8 billion as of April 1. External liabilities of the government and state-controlled institutions jumped 39%, while private-sector debt remained virtually unchanged and intercompany debt linked to foreign direct investment declined 5.5% in one year. The National Bank defines external debt as debt obligations…
Kazakhstan Prioritizes Foreign Retails Chains as Higher-Value Exports Grow
ASTANA – Kazakhstan is preparing new support to place domestically produced goods in major foreign retail chains as the country seeks to build on rising nonresource exports and shift sales toward higher-value finished products. Nonresource exports increased 14.5% in the first five months of 2026 to $11.8 billion, while around 44% of goods produced in…
Kazakhstan Expands Digital Water Management as Pressure on Resources Grows
ASTANA – Kazakhstan is expanding digital monitoring, flood forecasting and groundwater research as it seeks to move from reactive water management toward a system that can anticipate risks and track water supplies more accurately. The Central Asian nation seeks to invest in better data to help solve some of its most persistent water problems. The…
Kazakhstan Moves Up 17 Spots in Post-Shock Investment Risk Assessment
ASTANA — Kazakhstan rose 17 places to rank 53rd in the May 2026 update of the Global Investment Risk and Resilience Index, marking one of the country’s strongest recent improvements in assessments of its ability to withstand economic and geopolitical shocks. The May 2026 edition of the index assesses countries by combining long-term resilience indicators…
Kazakhstan Releases First Tiger Into Wild in More Than 70 Years
ASTANA — Kazakhstan has released a tiger into the wild for the first time in more than 70 years, marking a historic milestone in a decade-long effort to restore the predator to its former habitat and revive the wider ecosystem of the southern Lake Balkhash region. An adult female Amur tiger named Umit, meaning “hope”…
With Azerbaijan, Central Asia Seeks Greater Geopolitical Weight
ASTANA – The leaders of Central Asia and Azerbaijan gathered in Cholpon-Ata on July 31 for an informal summit aimed at translating years of improving political ties into practical regional integration, as Azerbaijan expands the grouping’s reach across the Caspian and Kazakhstan pushes for an action plan for a landmark cooperation treaty. The consultative format…
What CPC Disruptions Reveal About Energy Security, Kazakhstan’s Balanced Foreign Policy
ASTANA – The Caspian Pipeline Consortium, which exports around 80% of Kazakh oil, has been shut down for a week following Ukrainian drone attacks on July 17 and 19. The recurrent attacks renew questions about the country’s energy security, export dependence and the growing challenge of preserving its balanced foreign policy. The tankers Asia and…
Kazakhstan’s Dairy Output Rises as Cheese and Ice Cream Lead Growth
ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s dairy manufacturing output rose 11.9% in the first half of 2026. The growth is concentrated in cheese, butter and ice cream while production of processed liquid milk remained nearly unchanged, according to the latest release from the Bureau of National Statistics. The value of manufactured dairy products reached 414.9 billion tenge (US$887.4…
ADB Vice President Says Kazakhstan Can Benefit as Investors Rewrite Map of Opportunity
ASTANA — Global certainty is not stopping investment. It is redrawing where capital goes and Kazakhstan can benefit from this shift, said Asian Development Bank Vice President Fatima Yasmin in an interview with The Astana Times. “Global uncertainty is making investors more selective, but it is not stopping investment,” said Yasmin, who visited Kazakhstan last…
Kazakhstan Launches G-Index Institute to Build Research Base for Women’s Entrepreneurship
ASTANA – The fourth plenary session of the Global Businesswomen Council on July 2 in Astana announced plans to launch the G-Index Institute, an independent research and analytical platform designed to develop the methodological base for women’s entrepreneurship in Kazakhstan. “If public policy has already identified the development of human capital, production localization, SME participation…
EU Ambassador Says Tokayev’s Brussels Visit Reinforced Kazakhstan-EU Strategic Partnership
ASTANA – President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s recent visit to Brussels was a reinforcement of Kazakhstan’s strategic partnership with the European Union, EU Ambassador to Kazakhstan Aleška Simkić told journalists on July 3. She pointed to continued cooperation on transport, critical raw materials, digitalization, trade, education and people-to-people ties. “President Tokayev also met with businesses that are…
Tokyo, Astana See New Momentum in Finance, AI and Digital Cooperation
ASTANA – Tokyo and Astana are building new momentum in their city-to-city partnership, with finance, artificial intelligence and digital technology emerging as key areas for cooperation, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said in an interview with The Astana times following her May visit to Kazakhstan. “Tokyo would seek to further deepen its collaboration with Astana in…
Kazakhstan, Germany Eye Deeper Ties in Energy and Critical Minerals
ASTANA – Kazakhstan and Germany are seeking to expand cooperation across key strategic sectors, with Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov and German Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Katherina Reiche, discussing investment, industry, energy, transport logistics and critical minerals on June 29 in Astana. “For Kazakhstan, Germany is one of its key trade, economic and investment…
Kazakhstan Enters Global Top 25 in KidsRights Index, Leads Central Asia
ASTANA – Kazakhstan ranked 24th in the KidsRights Index 2026, becoming the only country from Eastern Europe and Central Asia to enter the global top 25 and outpacing its Central Asian neighbors in the annual ranking of children’s rights. The index was released on June 24 by KidsRights, an Amsterdam-based international children’s rights organization, in…
Tokayev Marks End of Kazakhstan’s Bicameral Parliament Ahead of Historic Constitutional Shift
ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s Parliament met for the last time in its current form on June 30 as President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev framed the country’s constitutional overhaul as a new stage in political modernization and marked the close of a three-decade institutional chapter. A new Constitution takes effect on July 1 and is set to replace the…
