New Opportunities: Central Asia and U.S. Strengthen Technological Cooperation
Central Asian countries and the United States are strengthening industrial and technological cooperation, Kazakhstan's Vice Minister of Industry and Construction Olzhas Saparbekov said during the C5+1 Critical Minerals Dialogue, an agency correspondent reported.
Today's meeting once again confirmed that our countries share a common understanding of the strategic opportunities for expanding industrial cooperation, strengthening resilient supply chains, and creating new opportunities for technological partnership," he said.
The vice minister also expressed gratitude to the U.S. partners for their participation in the C5+1 Critical Minerals Dialogue and their active efforts to advance multilateral cooperation.
This is the next step toward building a sustainable, mutually beneficial and future-oriented partnership between Central Asia and the United States," he added.
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East Kazakhstan Lithium Deposit Development: Project Progress Update
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Kazakhstan's Vice Minister of Industry and Construction, Iran Sharkhan, has provided an update on the development of the Bakennoye lithium deposit in East Kazakhstan Region on the sidelines of the C5+1 Critical Minerals Dialogue.
Work is currently underway to register the project with the state authorities. These processes are undergoing the necessary approvals. The next stage will involve addressing issues related to the processing and development of the deposit," the vice minister was quoted as saying by Kazinform News Agency.
According to Sharkhan, the exact size of the deposit's reserves will be announced after they have been verified by independent experts.
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Kazakhstan Budget Falls Short by KZT 335 Billion Despite GDP Growth
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Kazakhstan's state budget recorded a shortfall of KZT 335 billion in 2025 despite GDP exceeding forecasts by KZT 9 trillion. The main reasons were shortcomings in revenue planning and overly optimistic tax projections, according to the Supreme Audit Chamber.
Chairman of the Supreme Audit Chamber Alikhan Smailov said that during the year, 99 projects worth KZT 75 billion were removed from the budget, while more than 20% of the over 600 investment projects scheduled for completion were not implemented.
The amount of inefficiently used funds exceeded the 2024 level by 1.7 times. At the same time, a high level of budget execution did not guarantee the achievement of planned results. At the central government level, an average of 5% of budget programme indicators were not achieved, while in the regions the figure reached 33%," Smailov said.
According to him, the country also failed to meet 11 key national indicators and more than 30 target indicators in areas including digitalisation, agriculture, water management, environmental protection and other sectors.
State auditors calculated that despite GDP exceeding forecasts by KZT 9 trillion and reaching KZT 159.9 trillion, the budget still received KZT 335 billion less than expected. Among the key reasons were deficiencies in planning and excessive optimism in tax forecasts. In particular, revenue forecasting methodologies were not always followed during the planning stage. Instead, inflated assumptions and additional revenue sources not предусмотрed by the methodology were often used," the SAC chairman noted.
Auditors estimated that in 2025, KZT 154 billion in payments attributable to 2026 were credited in advance, while nearly KZT 900 billion in VAT refunds remained unpaid. However, these measures failed to balance budget revenues and expenditures. By the end of 2025, KZT 244 billion in planned funding had not been allocated, while significant accounts payable obligations had accumulated.
According to the SAC’s conclusion, the quality of tax administration requires particular attention, as the number of court appeals filed by taxpayers increased during the reporting period. This is a significant issue given that more than half of the disputed amounts over the past four years have been ruled in favour of taxpayers.
Risks associated with the shadow economy and insufficient transparency in certain commodity markets also persist. Despite the introduction of product labelling systems and digital monitoring tools, discrepancies between production, import and actual consumption volumes continue to grow.
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Banks Find Business Lending More Attractive Than Consumer Loans
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Kazakhstan's National Bank Governor Timur Suleimenov said growth in consumer lending has begun to slow, a correspondent reported.
Consumer lending has slowed its growth, while lending to businesses continues to expand at around 18%," Suleimenov told reporters on the sidelines of a government meeting.
According to the central bank chief, lending to households had been growing by roughly 30% annually over the past three to four years, prompting regulators to take additional measures to reduce risks to the financial system.
Suleimenov said the National Bank, together with relevant government agencies, introduced a sectoral countercyclical capital buffer for loans issued to individuals and tightened requirements governing the maturity of consumer loans. Previously, banks were able to issue such loans with repayment terms of up to seven to nine years, allowing them to reduce monthly payments and circumvent certain prudential restrictions.
We then adopted a number of tax measures. Consumer loans are now subject to a 25% corporate income tax rate for banks, while business loans continue to be taxed at 20%. As a result, banks now have greater incentives to lend to businesses rather than households. These measures are already demonstrating their effectiveness," the National Bank governor said.
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Foreign Investment Inflows into Kazakhstan Rise to $20.5 Billion
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Investment in fixed capital in Kazakhstan increased by 6.7% year-on-year to KZT 4.9 trillion in the first four months of 2026, outpacing the overall rate of economic growth, Deputy Minister of National Economy Arman Kassenov said at a briefing at the Central Communications Service.
According to Kassenov, gross inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI) reached $20.5 billion in 2025, up 14.4% from the previous year.
He noted that the structure of Kazakhstan's economy and investment flows has undergone significant changes in recent years.
Today, Kazakhstan's economy is more diversified than it was 10 to 15 years ago. For example, in 2010, oil extraction accounted for 16.5% of GDP. By the end of 2024, the share of the oil-producing industry had fallen to 8.1%. Foreign direct investment is following the same trend: diversification is also taking place on the investor side. Investors are becoming increasingly interested not only in extractive industries, metallurgy and the oil and gas sector, but also in other areas of the economy," he said.
The sectors that attracted the largest volumes of foreign investment last year were:
- Wholesale and retail trade - $4.8 billion;
- Manufacturing - $4.4 billion;
- Financial and insurance activities - $4.3 billion;
- Information and communications - $1.4 billion;
- Transportation and storage - $977 million.
The Netherlands, Russia and China remain Kazakhstan's largest foreign investors.
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