Kazakhstan's national minimum wage rises in February

19.02.2025, 18:53 23731

Kazakhstan, China to increase railroad freight volume

The sides agreed to double the handover of trains from Kazakhstan to China through the Altynkol-Khorgos border checkpoint from March 1, the press service of JSC NC Kazakhstan Temir Zholy reports.

This issue was discussed at a meeting of the leadership of JSC NC Kazakhstan Temir Zholy and China Railway Urumqi Group Co.

The sides summarized the results of the two countries’ rail transport sector in 2024.

The volume of transportations between Kazakhstan and China hit a record indicator of 32 million tons, having increased by 13% against the previous year.

During the talks, the Kazakh side informed about early completion of construction of the second line on the Dostyk-Moiynty section and Almaty bypass railroad line, which will considerably increase throughput capacity towards China.

The sides agreed to double handover of trains from Kazakhstan to China through the Altynkol-Khorgos border checkpoint, from to 8 to 15 trains per day, and from July 1, 2025 through the Dostyk-Alashankou - from 14 to 28 trains per day.

The Kazakh company says that the joint plans approved for 2025 will significantly contribute to raising the country’s export potential and will open additional opportunities for domestic commodity producers.

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17.02.2025, 15:44 24051

Kazakhstan explains January oil production increase

Images | depositphotos

Almassadam Satkaliyev, Minister of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan, held telephone calls with Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, Chairman of OPEC+ and Minister of Energy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and Alexander Novak, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation and Co-Chair of OPEC+, as well as with Haitham Al-Ghais, Secretary General of OPEC, the Kazakh Energy Ministry reports.

During the discussions, Almassadam Satkaliyev provided a technical explanation regarding the increase in Kazakhstan’s oil production in the month of January. Satkaliyev clarified that the increase was due to the beginning of oil production at a new Third Generation Plant (3GP) at the Tengiz oilfield within the Future Growth Project. Satkaliyev explained that earlier on, it was planned that the start of the production increase would begin in June/July 2025. He also added that this increase in production resulted from a temporary one time testing conducted after field maintenance and the commissioning of the new processing unit at the Tengiz field.

Satkaliyev reiterated that Kazakhstan remains fully committed to its obligations under the OPEC+ agreement, including the compensation mechanism. In order to fulfill these obligations Kazakhstan will take further measures to comply with its obligations, including the reduction of production from other oil fields to offset this January increase. He also added that Kazakhstan would submit an updated compensation plan to account for both its excess production and the outstanding compensation volumes recorded in January.

The Chairman and Co-Chairman both reaffirmed the critical importance of full conformity and compensation, in line with the Declaration of Cooperation, and further underscored the role of the voluntary production adjustments and efforts undertaken by several OPEC+ countries, in supporting market stability.

As earlier reported, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) announced last Wednesday that it is maintaining its previous forecasts for global oil demand growth in 2025 and 2026.

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11.02.2025, 20:58 114491

Government sends working groups to regions to discuss amendments to Tax Code with businesses

At the Government session chaired by Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov presented new amendments to the tax legislation of the country, primeminister.kz reports.

Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of National Economy Serik Zhumangarin noted that VAT is one of the key sources of budget replenishment, accounting for 25% of the total share. Increase and differentiation of VAT rate up to 16% will reduce the dependence of the budget on volatile oil revenues, strengthen the saving function of the National Fund and finance priority state projects.

Serik Zhumangarin added that producers of agricultural products will be exempted from VAT. Including legal entities. Whereas now their payments make up only 30% of the VAT. Thus, all products such as potatoes, tomatoes, onions and cabbage produced in Kazakhstan will be more competitive.

In addition, it is proposed to establish a reduced rate for the health sector - 10%. However, it may affect other sectors of the economy, which will be determined during the discussion with the expert community and business.

Deputy Prime Minister explained that the announced VAT rate of 10% is due to the complexity of administration. First of all, for business. Secondly, for the tax authorities.

When there are many rates - accounting becomes more complicated, declarations are more complicated, debit balance accumulates. To avoid this, we propose 16%, 10% and exemption," Serik Zhumangarin said.

He added that today only 4% of businesses pay VAT. Many companies artificially split the business to avoid taxation.

This undermines the tax system and prevents normal offsetting of VAT. Therefore, it is proposed to reduce the threshold for registration from 80 million tenge to 15 million tenge. Conditions are created where the cost of the costs of splitting will exceed the benefits of splitting. This will create a level playing field for businesses and prevent evasion schemes. In this matter we are guided by international experience. In most developed and developing economies, the VAT threshold is either much lower or is absent at all," Deputy Prime Minister added.

The experience of Canada, South Korea, Scandinavian countries, Eastern European countries and the nearest neighbours, such as Russia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, where the thresholds are lower than in Kazakhstan, was presented as an example.

In addition, it is proposed to revise the retail tax regime:

The income limit under the proposed regime remains at 600,000 monthly wages that is 2,359 million tenge per year;
Limitations on the number of employees are removed;
FOT is deducted if sales income exceeds 100 million tenge per year; 100 million tenge to incentivise wage whitewashing;
We keep the rate at 4% (with the possibility of a 50% reduction by maslikhats);
And the key condition is to reduce the types of activities and realisation only in the B2C segment.

The proposed changes will allow for an increase in tax revenues of 4-5 trillion tenge annually. These funds will help reduce dependence on the National Fund, reduce the level of public debt, direct additional resources to the development of infrastructure, agribusiness, manufacturing and defence.

It is important to note that the possible inflationary effect of the tax increase will be short-term and will be exhausted within a year. Additional inflation is expected at the rate of 2.5 - 3," Serik Zhumangarin noted.

In addition, Deputy Prime Minister emphasised that the work on reforming the tax system of Kazakhstan is conducted openly and with the participation of experts. On the instructions of the Head of State, from today will start the work of six working groups, which will discuss the initiatives of the Government with business communities in the regions. The final decision on the issues of differentiated rates and special tax regimes, as well as the threshold of VAT registration is planned to be made after all discussions and collection of proposals.

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11.02.2025, 18:50 114746

Kazakhstan intensively introducing modern digital solutions in agricultural sector

Minister of Agriculture Aidarbek Saparov reported on the ongoing work on digitalisation of the agricultural sector at the Government session, primeminister.kz reports.

He noted that digitalisation of the agricultural sector is an important direction in improving the efficiency of agricultural production. In the conditions of global changes and technological transformation in the republic are actively developed and implemented modern digital solutions.

To date, the digitalisation of the agricultural sector covers four information systems:

- Unified State Subsidy Information System (USIS);

- Identification of Agricultural Animals (IAS);

- The Unified Automated Management System for Agro-industrial Complex Sectors e-Agriculture;

- The information system of crediting the population Auyl Amanaty.

The Ministry launched the Unified State Subsidy Information System (USIS) in 2023, which covers all areas of subsidies in the agro-industrial complex.

Previously, a private platform operated for several years, which led to a certain monopoly in the field of subsidies and issues of transparency in the allocation of financial resources. Following the implementation of the system, positive effects have been achieved in the form of free of charge for all users, saving them more than 1 billion tenge, as well as minimised corruption risks through the introduction of a queue of applications and waiting list," Aidarbek Saparov noted.

The Minister added that since this year counter obligations for farmers have been introduced through the state system. More than 1,500 farmers have already made commitments in this direction. The state subsidy system is integrated with the necessary systems of other state bodies. One of the important steps was the integration with the system of the State Revenue Committee for receiving invoices in electronic format (EFS). This approach eliminated the previous manipulation of subsidies, preventing them from being reused, withdrawn or changed.

The State Subsidy System emphasised transparency of the subsidy process and equal access subject to compliance with requirements (availability of land, purchase of subsidised goods, etc.) by introducing a queue of applications, where each application is considered one by one depending on the date and time of application, and information on the status of the application and budget availability for a particular subsidy category is publicly available. In parallel, a waiting list was introduced, which allows a farmer to apply for subsidies at any time, even if there are no funds in the budget.

According to the agency, in 2024, the volume of applications for subsidies through the GISS significantly exceeded the previous year's figures. The growth is especially noticeable in the fertiliser sector, where funding has increased several times.

Thus, in 2024, more than 240 thousand applications were submitted through the subsidy system, of which more than 177.5 thousand were approved and more than 29 thousand were refused. At present, more than 33 thousand applications of financial institutions for interest rate repayment are under consideration by the Agricultural Department. In this regard, the mechanism of direct subsidies to financial institutions will be implemented for the transition to preferential lending to agribusiness entities.

One of the important directions of the Ministry's activity is digitalisation of the livestock industry. To ensure traceability in livestock breeding, the Ministry of Agriculture is systematically working on the automation of the entire life cycle (including livestock products).

Previously, records of farm animals were kept mainly manually. Information on livestock breeding, laboratory tests, outbreaks of particularly dangerous diseases, as well as on animal sale and purchase transactions was kept in paper format. This approach was not only labour-intensive and time-consuming, but also posed significant risks to data accuracy and timeliness.

The automation of livestock accounting processes has enabled transparency and efficiency in the handling of farm animals. Animal registration and laboratory tests have been significantly accelerated through the automation of animal data entry. This allows veterinary services to quickly identify infections and localise disease outbreaks, preventing outbreaks at an early stage and reducing the risk of infections and loss of productivity.

Specialised mobile applications have been developed for more efficient livestock management:

VETMOBILE is an app for veterinary professionals that helps to register animals, track their condition, keep records of vaccinations and diseases, and receive notifications of upcoming inspections and events.

TORTTULIK is an application for owners of farm animals, which allows you to track all registered animals, keep records of purchase and sale of livestock, diseases and vaccinations. This application greatly simplifies the process of working with animals and helps agrarians to monitor the state of their livestock in real time.

The ministry has also started work on the implementation of a new crop traceability information system (CTIS). The existing traceability of crop products occurs only when accompanying documents are issued for a batch, which does not ensure full traceability. In this regard, the Ministry has started to develop an information system for traceability of crop production.

This system will allow tracing the cycle of production and origin of agricultural products to export on the principle from field to table, as well as will ensure control and safety of transported products. It is also planned to introduce passportisation of crop production facilities, which will ensure transparency of the origin of products.

It is noted that the final stage of digitalisation of the agro-industrial complex will be the introduction of the E-APK platform, implying a platform approach to create a unified digital ecosystem of the agro-industrial complex.

In order to ensure a comprehensive approach to the digitalisation of agriculture and the creation of a unified digital platform of the agro-industrial complex, it is planned to unite all available information systems in agriculture. The creation of a unified digital platform will make it possible to ensure a full cycle of traceability in agriculture, by interconnecting the subsidy system, farmland management, crop and livestock production. In this regard, I would like to note once again that the gradual digitalisation of the agro-industrial complex is one of the main tasks of the Ministry for the near future, in order to ensure transparency of products and food security of the country," Aidarbek Saparov summed up.

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11.02.2025, 16:25 114231

Prime Minister instructions to hold discussions in different regions and to submit amendments to draft Tax Code to Parliament by 20 February

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At the Government session chaired by Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov, the issue of the upcoming tax reform was considered off the agenda. The Head of State instructed to discuss the nuances of the forthcoming changes with business, deputies and experts at a meeting with entrepreneurs the previous day, primeminister.kz reports.

Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of National Economy Serik Zhumangarin made a report on the ongoing work at the Government session.

According to him, a clear structure of rates is introduced to simplify administration of 16%, 10%, 0% and exemption. It is proposed to raise the VAT rate to 16%, which will reduce the dependence of the budget on oil revenues and direct additional funds to priority projects. VAT exemption is introduced for agricultural producers, which will increase their competitiveness. A reduced rate of 10 per cent is also proposed for the healthcare sector, but the possibility of extending it to other sectors is being discussed. In addition, the threshold for VAT registration is being lowered from 80 million to 15 million tenge, which will combat artificial fragmentation of business and create a level playing field for all companies. The retail tax regime is being revised, restrictions on the number of employees are being removed, and realisation is being limited to the B2C segment. The expected growth of tax revenues is 4-5 trillion tenge annually. This will help reduce dependence on the national fund, reduce government debt and channel funds to infrastructure and industry. The possible inflationary effect will be short-term and is estimated at 2.5-3%.

The proposed approaches were discussed at a meeting with representatives of the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs Atameken and the business community.

In general, we approve of the proposed approaches. This week it is necessary to hold a discussion in the regions with all categories of citizens. I will also hold meetings with business in Astana and in the regions. Based on the results of this work we need to submit amendments to the draft Tax Code and the accompanying bill to the Majilis by 20 February. Then we will continue the discussion in the Majilis," Prime Minister noted.

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24.01.2025, 14:13 198691

Olzhas Bektenov holds meeting on influence of external factors on national economy

Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov held a working meeting on the impact of external factors on the country's economy, primeminister.kz reports.

The forecast of macroeconomic indicators and various scenarios of situation development were considered. Measures to minimise the impact of possible adverse factors, as well as the use of available advantages were discussed.

The leadership of the Ministry of National Economy, Finance, Energy, the National Welfare Fund Samruk-Kazyna presented calculations and scenarios of the impact of global economic development on Kazakhstan.

The Ministry of National Economy together with interested government agencies and organisations were given a number of instructions.

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23.01.2025, 13:02 198866

Olzhas Bektenov discusses further economic development with experts

Images | primeminister.kz

Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov met with representatives of the expert community in the field of economy and entrepreneurship, primeminister.kz reports.

The main purpose of the meeting was to discuss measures and approaches of the economic block of the Government to achieve sustainable economic growth. Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of National Economy Serik Zhumangarin reported on the current economic situation in the country and voiced approaches to fiscal reform to address the development of industry, modernisation of infrastructure, launch of new growth points in the regions.

The participants of the meeting discussed the drafts of the new Tax and Budget Codes, which enshrine measures to stabilise public finances and their effective use.

In the course of the meeting on the impact of the proposed changes on various sectors of the economy were expressed by the chairman of the Presidium of the National Chamber of Commerce and Industry ‘Atameken’ Raimbek Batalov, chairman of the board of the Union of Machine Builders of Kazakhstan Meiram Prshembayev, executive director of the Republican Association of Mining and Mining and Metallurgical Enterprises Nikolay Radostovets, president of the Association of Real Estate Developers of Kazakhstan Viktor Mikryukov, chairman of the Committee of Pharmaceutical, Medical Industry and Medical Services of the Presidium of the National Chamber of Commerce and Industry Atameken Nurzha Nurzha, chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Chamber of Commerce and Industry Atameken.

Expert opinions were shared by the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Eurasian National University named after Gumilyov Zhaksybek Kulekeev, Chairman of the Board of Directors of NAC Analytica Corporate Fund Rasul Rysmambetov, Managing Partner of Dasco Consulting group LLP Darmen Sadvakasov, General Director of Fortune Partners LLP, Head of Tax Law School MNU Dana Tokmurzina, Chairman of the Public Council on Public Finance MF Rustam Zhursunov, Head of the analytical group Comment, economist Eldar Shamsutdinov. Director of the Centre for Applied Research Talap Rahim Oshakbaev, head of DESHT analytical centre Kuanysh Zhaikov, economist Galymzhan Aitkazin, independent financial analyst Andrey Chebotarev, managing partner of investment company Visor Kazakhstan Almas Chukin and others also attended the discussion.

Prime Minister thanked the participants of the meeting for a constructive dialogue and instructed the Ministries of National Economy, Finance to work out the voiced proposals on reforming the fiscal sphere.

The President has set a task is to change the structure of the economy with strengthening the development of the real sector. Therefore, the discussed reforms are important for the country. Fiscal reform will be an effective mechanism to improve the work on further development of the economy," Olzhas Bektenov emphasised.

The Government continues to actively work with experts to develop the most effective measures to stimulate economic growth.

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22.01.2025, 09:35 211766

Export of IT services in Kazakhstan exceeded $470 mln

The issues of IT services and products export development were considered at the Government session under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Olzhas Bektenov. The report was made by the Minister of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry Zhaslan Madiyev, primeminister.kz reports.

According to him, IT-export of Kazakhstan shows positive dynamics. For 9 months of 2024 it amounted to $471 million. This is 26% more than for the same period of 2023. On the instructions of the Head of State, the goal is to reach $1bn in 2026.

Astana Hub plays a major role in promoting Kazakhstan's IT exports. The number of Astana Hub residents has exceeded 1.5 thousand companies, including 400 international companies. Their total revenue totalled 620 billion tenge in 2024. At the same time, export revenue totalled 227 billion tenge, or $479m.

Zhaslan Madiyev said that the export geography of Astana Hub residents covers more than 90 countries. In addition to its residents for the first time exported GovTech products of National Information Technologies JSC. Among such solutions are platforms Smart Data Ukimet, Smart Bridge and website builder EPIR.

The Minister added that today Kazakhstan has created favourable conditions for attracting large international IT companies and foreign IT specialists. By the way, most of the giants that have moved are among the top 10 IT exporters. As a result, the country gets new jobs not only in big cities, but also in the regions of the country. And it also receives an inflow of new capital in the form of export proceeds.

To attract foreign IT specialists, the so-called Digital Nomads, new Digital Nomad Visa and Digital Nomad Residency programmes have been launched. These are simplified online procedures for obtaining residence permits. Today, there are already 20 regional IT Hubs operating in Kazakhstan. All Astana Hub initiatives are now available to IT companies in the regions.

Since 2021, more than 114 thousand IT specialists have been trained in Kazakhstan, including more than 33 thousand in 2024 alone. In addition to IT education in universities and colleges, the TechOrda programme has been launched. This programme makes it possible to train 20 thousand IT-specialists in a shorter period of time and in in-demand areas. It is important to note that the employment rate of TechOrda graduates is almost 90%. At the same time, state investments pay off in less than a year. Mainly due to the return of funds to the budget through individual income tax.

At the same time, leading development programmes from Silicon Valley are attracted to transfer international experience to startups. These are top programmes such as Google for Startups, Plug & Play, Draper University and Alchemist. Under these programmes, startups get access to investment, knowledge and opportunities to scale. About 70 startups received support under the development programmes. More than $30 million of investments were attracted.

Additionally, Kazakhstan is creating an international network of IT hubs. They already exist in the USA, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and the UK. Kazakhstani startups have foreign infrastructure to attract investment and export.

The key growth factor for startups, according to the minister, is the availability of sufficient venture capital. An analysis of the domestic venture capital industry has shown that 90% of such deals take place at the early stages of financing. At the same time, the size of investments is mostly less than $1 million. Therefore, there is a need to create a venture capital investment fund.

On the instructions of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Digitalisation has started work on launching a Venture Capital Investment Fund on the basis of Astana Hub in the jurisdiction of MFCA. The target size of the fund is $1 billion. Preliminary applications from investors have already been collected for $130 million.

Zhaslan Madiyev said that the distinctive feature of this fund is that it is formed mainly by private capital. The fund, he said, will become a magnet for talent and startups from the region, a key partner in attracting foreign investment and a tool for technology transfer to Kazakhstan through investments in foreign high-tech companies.

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