Kazakhstan bank asset quality is improving as the economic outlook picks up and non-performing loans level off, UBS AG said. Shares in the country's two largest banks climbed, helping the benchmark stock index become the world's biggest gainer today.
The United States urged Turkmenistan on Tuesday to allow its companies to invest in onshore Turkmen gas deposits including South Iolotan, a giant field seen as a key future source of Caspian energy.
Kazakhstan's banking sector reached the bottom this fall and is now on its way to recovery, according to a research report authored by Russian investment bank VTB Capital.
The fundamentals for the Kazakh tenge to appreciate are in place, central bank chairman Grigoriy Marchenko said on Wednesday, citing rising oil prices and improving current account.
The arrested Kazatomprom ex president Mukhtar Djakishev, who led the national uranium company, Kazatomprom, for nearly a decade and practically turned it into one of the world leading producers, believes that Russia is obstructing the development of the Kazakh nuclear sector.
Kazakhstan may introduce requirements for foreign companies to use domestic banks for banking services and local insurers for insurance services, central bank chairman Grigoriy Marchenko said on Wednesday.
Kazakhstan plans to offer its first foreign-currency bonds in a decade next year, joining Russia in seeking to lure back investors as rising energy prices spur the former Soviet region's economic recovery.
Kazakhstan may limit foreign ownership of banks and other financial companies to reduce the risk of a credit crunch, central bank chairman Grigoriy Marchenko said on Tuesday.
Italian aerospace and defense company Finmeccanica has signed a memorandum of understanding with a Kazakhstan sovereign wealth fund for a raft of cooperation deals.
According to Mr Duysenbay Turganov deputy minister of energy and mineral resources of Kazakhstan in 2009 Kazakhstan will reduce its coal output by about 12 million tonnes YoY to around 93 million tonne.
