Kazakhstan’s President Unveils Plans to Attract Foreign Investments

Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev revealed the country’s plans to attract up to nearly $150 billion in foreign direct investments (FDI) by 2030.

In his Wednesday address to the People’s Coalition as a candidate for the presidency, President Tokayev vowed that the National Fund assets would reach $100 billion within seven years.  

“Everything that rightfully belongs to the people of Kazakhstan will serve their interests,” he said as part of his election campaign program titled “Just Kazakhstan: For All and For Everyone.” “To do this, we will ensure effective management of the fund and increase its investment income.”

According to the Kazakh president, the primary focus will be placed on strengthening the country’s manufacturing sector, modernization of infrastructure, and building up energy capacities.

“We will give a powerful impetus to the agricultural sector, strengthen the basic industries and create new industries that produce highly processed products,” President Tokayev said. “We will pursue a balanced and transparent tax, budget, monetary, and tariff policy. We will take systematic measures to curb inflation.”

Kassym-Jomart Tokayev believes that such an economic system “will become the basis for the sustainable growth of the well-being of our people.”

Kazakhstan has lured nearly $400 billion of foreign direct investments since 1991, turning the country's economy into the wealthiest and largest one in Central Asia.

Officials in Kazakhstan have long been working to increase the country's investment attractiveness by reviewing policies and introducing various benefits for doing business. In 2019, the Kazakh government announced the country’s intent to join the world’s top 30 economies by 2050.

Doing business in Kazakhstan has become easier, according to the World Bank’s 2020 ranking. The country ranked 25th, ahead of countries like Russia (#28) and China (#31), and some of the world’s developed economies, such as Italy (#58) and Brazil (#124).

One of Kazakhstan’s bold initiatives to attract investors and improve the investment climate is the introduction of a new investment policy concept, which aims to bring the level of investment in fixed assets to 25.1 percent of GDP and increase the inflow of FDI to $25.5 billion in 2026.

Kazakhstan’s economy is recovering well from the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2021, foreign direct investment (FDI) flows into the Kazakh economy rebounded to pre-pandemic levels reaching $23.8 billion and growing 38.9 percent compared to 2020. Yet, the World Bank expects this to slow mainly because of the fallout from the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Moscow’s aggression against Ukraine and subsequent Western sanctions are significantly affecting Kazakhstan, a member of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) that shares a long border and has extensive trade and economic relations with Russia. The Kazakh national currency has lost value due to the volatility of the Russian ruble. Kazakhstan has also been burdened by the measures taken to comply with Western embargos on Russia to avoid being subject to secondary sanctions.