Today, the Kazakhstan Growth Forum K25 was held in Almaty, bringing together more than 500 entrepreneurs, top managers, and heads of the largest companies in Kazakhstan. Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of National Economy Serik Zhumangarin delivered a keynote address to the participants online.

The central theme of the 2025 Forum was the concept Customer-Centric Kazakhstan: a new industrialization built around the client. In his speech, Serik Zhumangarin emphasized that the current year is a turning point for the country’s economy: the share of the oil sector in GDP is consistently declining, while manufacturing has increased its contribution to the economy. At the end of 2024, the share of the oil industry amounted to 8.1% of GDP, while manufacturing reached 12.4%.

The Deputy Prime Minister noted that 2025 is important in terms of rethinking the sources of economic growth. The government is overseeing 17 large projects worth about $27 billion, including petrochemicals, agricultural processing, and mechanical engineering. Among them are car factories that will soon begin operations in Kostanay and Almaty. At the same time, the National Infrastructure Plan until 2029, totaling about $80 billion, is in effect.

Special attention was given to the capitalization program of the development financial institution “Baiterek,” launched in 2025.

“Today we are investing one trillion tenge in the capitalization of Baiterek, despite the difficult financial situation and external economic challenges. Through Baiterek’s mechanisms, with a leverage ratio of 1 to 7, we are attracting another 7 trillion, of which 4 trillion are foreign currency resources to support export-oriented industries. As a result, we will finance real sector projects worth 8 trillion tenge, or about 15 billion dollars, this year alone. This will give the economy an additional boost – about 1.3% of GDP growth this year. And this is essentially a worthy alternative to oil,” the Deputy Prime Minister added.

According to Serik Zhumangarin, the development of transport infrastructure remains a key factor of economic growth: in 2025, 13,100 km of highways and 4,000 km of railways will be built and repaired. The construction of the Dostyk–Moyynty section is being completed, and the Moyynty–Kyzylzhar project will start next year. The Beineu–Saksaul project will strengthen the capabilities of the Middle Corridor, supported by the EBRD and the World Bank, which confirmed their readiness to allocate over 800 billion tenge.

At the same time, the Deputy Prime Minister drew attention to the fact that road maintenance requires a special approach, since many highways are not economically viable, and state guarantees for them often become actual obligations. In this regard, a package of proposals is being developed that provides for a different mechanism for road maintenance, comparable to the standards for servicing railways, which will accelerate infrastructure development.

Separately, Serik Zhumangarin touched on the prospects for the development of international transit routes. The volume of railway transportation along the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route in 2025 will exceed 4.5 million tons, with the prospect of growth to 7–10 million tons, which underlines the importance of creating reliable routes to world ports to ensure product sales. In this regard, a memorandum was signed with Afghanistan on the construction of the Turgundi–Herat railway, which will become part of the broader CASA (Central Asia–South Asia) corridor and connect Kazakhstan with routes through Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

According to the Deputy Prime Minister, the implementation of these projects in the next 5–10 years is fundamentally important for Kazakhstan’s sustainable entry into new export markets and for ensuring stable economic development under diversification conditions.

#Economy #Industry #Serik Zhumangarin

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