APRIL 27 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Foreign investment in Kazakhstan jumped 40% to $20.6b in 2016, compared to 2015, investment and development minister Zhenis Kassymbek told media. The jump was mainly linked to major infrastructure projects in the energy and mining sectors, such as the expansion of the CPC Pipeline.
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(News report from Issue No. 327, published on May 5 2017)
APRIL 28 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Looking to attract investors, Kazakhstan’s deputy health minister Alexey Tsoi travelled to Seoul to talk to healthcare companies about the government’s privatisation plans, media reported (April 18). At the meeting on April 14, Mr Tsoi said that the government planned to privatise large chunks of Kazakhstan’s healthcare system in what he described as a “third wave” of economic modernisation. Kazakhstan’s health system is routinely criticised as underfunded. Mr Tsoi also said that South Korea was one of the biggest destinations for Kazakhs looking for private medical treatment.
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(News report from Issue No. 326, published on April 28 2017)
APRIL 25 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Surrounded by burly bodyguards, Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev went for a rare walkabout around the area close to Astana’s train station. Official media showed pictures of a relaxed looking Mr Nazarbayev talking to people. Unusually, Mr Nazarbayev decided to go for a dressed-down tie-less look. The 76- year-old likes to portray himself as a man of the people.
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(News report from Issue No. 326, published on April 28 2017)
ALMATY, APRIL 24 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Swedish mobile operator Tele2 said that its joint venture in Kazakhstan with Altel in February last year was working out with revenues rising 14% in Q1 2017 versus Q1 2016 on a like-for-like basis.
Tele2 said that a 3% rise in its customer base and an increase in the average spend per user, a key indicator that the Kazakh economy is improving, had driven up revenues. Tele2 owns a 49% stake in its joint venture with Altel, which has around 6.5m subscribers – a 22% market share.
“Although still competitive, the market continued to benefit from higher pricing levels. The JV continued to replace old products with new offerings that offer better support for ASPU growth over time,” Tele2 said in its statement.
Altel is owned by state-run Kazakhtelecom. The joint-venture with Tele2 is seen as a challenger brand to the more established Kcell, part-owned by Sweden’s Telia, and Beeline, the brand name operated by Russia’s Vimpelcom.
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(News report from Issue No. 326, published on April 28 2017)
APRIL 23 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Hackers defaced the front page of Kazakhstan’s ministry of defence website, less than three months after the government ordered a $74m programme to boost cyber security. Cyber security experts have said that the Kazakh internet security infrastructure is weak. The profit.kz website reported that hackers promoting a free Palestine defaced the mod.gov.kz website for an hour.
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(News report from Issue No. 326, published on April 28 2017)
APRIL 25 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Ahead of a planned IPO of Air Astana, Kazakhstan’s parliament has passed a motion that bans foreigners from owning more than 49% of its national airlines. Britain’s BAE Systems currently owns 49% of Air Astana which is slated to be one of the first of a series of high-profile Kazakh state- owned companies to be privatised.
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(News report from Issue No. 326, published on April 28 2017)
APRIL 22 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s military ordered two more Airbus C295 transport planes, bringing the total it now owns to eight. Kazakhstan is in the midst of push to modernise and upgrade its military. The C295 has become the workhorse of choice for many militaries. It can carry 70 soldiers or 50 paratroopers.
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(News report from Issue No. 326, published on April 28 2017)
APRIL 26 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — In an upbeat assessment of the Kazakh economy, Kcell CEO Arti Ots said that Q1 2017 had been a period of stabilisation for the mobile operator. Service revenue, an important indicator of a mobile operator’s health, still fell but only by 1.5% while overall revenue was flat. Operating margins, though fell to 37% in Q1 2017 compared to 42% in Q1 2016, showing just how competitive the sector is. A price war has dented margins in Kazakhstan’s mobile market. Telia is a major shareholder in Kcell although it has said it wants to sell out of Central Asia.
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(News report from Issue No. 326, published on April 28 2017)
APRIL 24 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Perhaps looking to burnish its self- generated reputation as a peace centre for world conflicts, Kazakhstan’s foreign ministry released a statement calling for a reduction in spending on militaries around the world. Instead of spending their budget on arms, Kazakhstan said that governments should be tackling hunger and poverty. Kazakhstan is hosting peace talks aimed at ending a civil war in Syria. It also currently holds a rotating chair on the UN Security Council.
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(News report from Issue No. 326, published on April 28 2017)
APRIL 20 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Yandex, the Russian language search internet search engine, opened its first office in Kazakhstan, another sign of renewed confidence in the region’s economy. The office in Almaty is an effort by the Russian language search engine to boost advertising revenues from Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan is the eighth office that Yandex has set up outside Russia. It said there are 5m hits on its search engine each day from Kazakhstan. Yandex has its own dedicated yandex.kz URL.
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(News report from Issue No. 326, published on April 28 2017)