ADB's Work in Kazakhstan   Download Fact Sheet

Kazakhstan is the first country in Central Asia to join the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in 1994. ADB has since supported Kazakhstan’s development through sovereign and nonsovereign financing, public–private partnerships advisory, technical assistance, and knowledge solutions. Operations have been focused on budget support and on the transport, finance, and renewable energy sectors. As an upper-middle income country, Kazakhstan has contributed $8.6 million to ADB’s Asian Development Fund, which provides grants to lower-income countries in Asia and the Pacific.

Current ADB operations in Kazakhstan support economic diversification, inclusive development, and sustainable growth. ADB is also supporting Kazakhstan’s active participation in the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Program.

To date, ADB has committed 129 public sector loans, grants, and technical assistance totaling $6 billion to Kazakhstan. Cumulative loan disbursements to Kazakhstan amount to $5.76 billion. These were financed by regular and concessional ordinary capital resources, and other special funds. ADB’s current sovereign portfolio in Kazakhstan includes 3 loans worth $469.5 million.

In 2021–2022, ADB helped the Government of Kazakhstan mitigate the social and economic impacts of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. In addition to $1 billion countercyclical support, ADB assisted the country in reducing the pandemic’s negative impact on the local labor market. Women entrepreneurship development centers were established across the country, and implementation of the One Village–One Product pilot project in the provinces of Zhambyl, West Kazakhstan, Kostanay, and Mangystau empowered rural communities.

ADB has been supporting Kazakhstan to increase transit potential and improve its regional connectivity through integration into global networks. Work is nearing completion on 300 kilometers (km) of the Aktobe–Makat road and 90 km of the adjacent road between Aktobe and Kandyagash in western Kazakhstan. ADB is preparing the design–build–operation and maintenance project for a 102-km Saryagash bypass greenfield road to provide a safe, highcapacity corridor for freight traffic traversing urban areas.

Promoting gender equality and addressing climate change are important thematic areas of ADB’s country operations. Jointly with Kazakhstan’s Otbasy Bank, ADB is providing access to affordable housing to over 3,000 women particularly in provincial areas. To develop renewable energy sources and support Kazakhstan’s transition to carbon neutrality, ADB has been providing technical assistance to help introduce new legislation on renewable technology-inclusive heat supply, and create more generation facilities with hydro, hybrid, and power storage. ADB also helped develop pre-feasibility studies for three regional energy distribution companies in the cities of Astana, Almaty, and Kyzylorda. The studies seek to lower transmission and distribution losses, improve the reliability of transmission networks, reduce overload during the peak demand, and cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Bayterek Tower, Astana, Kazakhstan. Photo: Ariel Javellana/ADB

Nonsovereign operations. Total outstanding balances and undisbursed commitments of ADB’s nonsovereign transactions in Kazakhstan as of 31 December 2022 was $74.32 million representing 0.58% of ADB’s total private sector portfolio.

Operational challenges. Substantial infrastructure investment and innovative financing modalities are needed to reduce inequalities between Kazakhstan’s large cities and the rest of the country. ADB is working with the government and other development partners to help modernize Kazakhstan’s infrastructure in transport, energy, urban development, and rural services.

Kazakhstan needs to further diversify and decarbonize its economy. ADB and the government are working to promote sustainable development, stimulate tourism, improve logistics, foster private entrepreneurship, promote digitalization, and ensure good governance.

To address the government's preference for local currency financing, ADB enhanced flexibility in its lending modalities and provided tenge loans through the issuance of local currency bonds. ADB issued the first tenge green bonds in the domestic bond market in 2020 and debuted the tenge gender bonds in 2021. ADB is among the largest multilateral issuers in Kazakhstan's domestic capital market.

Knowledge Work

Since 2013, the Joint Government of Kazakhstan and the ADB Knowledge and Experience Exchange Program (KEEP) has been offering demand-driven and just-in-time knowledge solutions including technical reports, policy advisory services, and capacity-building trainings. The ongoing fourth phase of KEEP, launched in November 2020, supports sharing of international best practices and standards in areas such as public audit, accrual budgeting, financial integrity, investment promotion, energy, regional development, gender and family affairs, and venture capital financing.

In 2022, ADB supported the government with developing project management skills and provided advice on further enabling the environment for venture capital financing, among others. ADB also published studies on assessing educational quality of schools in Kazakhstan and on methodology for comprehensive statistics of the domestic e-commerce market.

  ADB Projects in Kazakhstan Project data sheets for loans, grants, TAs

Future Directions

ADB will support Kazakhstan to improve the delivery of public and social services, implement structural reforms, decarbonize the energy and heating sectors, promote public–private partnerships, and further encourage regional cooperation and integration through the CAREC Program. ADB will continue to provide the government with the requested knowledge solutions for increasing the country’s economic competitiveness.

In 2022, a new 5-year country partnership strategy was discussed with the relevant stakeholders in Kazakhstan to better align the areas of partnership with the government’s priorities. The strategy implementation is expected to start in 2023.