Over the years of Independence, the inflow of foreign direct investment into the economy of Kazakhstan amounted to about $350 billion. In 2019, Kazakhstan managed to maintain the gross inflow of foreign direct investment at the level of 2018, a slight decline of 0.6% was recorded. Thus, according to the results of 2019, the gross inflow of FDI to Kazakhstan amounted to $24.1 billion against $24.3 billion in 2018.

The mining industry attracts the largest amount of foreign investment. The largest volume of FDI since 2005 or 56.3% of all investments came here. In 2019, the industry has attracted a record foreign investment since 2005 – $13,586 million. This is slightly higher than the results of 2018 – $13,566 million. At the same time, structural changes took place in the industry: the volume of FDI inflows to the extraction of metal ores increased by 60%, while in coal mining and lignite FDI fell by 60%.

The manufacturing industry invested $3.5 billion, trade $3 billion, and transport, financial and insurance activities over $2.7 billion.

WHO INVESTED MORE IN KAZAKHSTAN?

The five countries with the highest FDI in 2019 remained unchanged. Most of all, investors from the Netherlands invested in the economy of Kazakhstan – $7.3 billion (with a share of 30.2%). Further, investors from the USA settled down – $5.5 billion (23.0%), Switzerland – $2.2 billion. It is worth noting that Chinese investors pushed investors from the Russian Federation and took 4th place, while the Russian Federation closed out the top five.

To date, the KAZAKH INVEST monitoring system has 172 investment projects with a high degree of development for a total of $46.5 billion with the creation of about 58,000 jobs.
Of these, in 2020, it is planned to commission such projects as greenhouse complexes, meat processing plants, plants for the production of animal feed, production of industrial gases, MMC projects for the construction of mining and processing plants, solar power plants and others.

At the same time, construction work on large projects involving TNCs is expected this year, such as the production and processing of potatoes, the production of soda ash, high-quality lime, fruit processing and the greenhouse complex per 1,000 hectares.

INFLUENCE OF COVID-19 ON THE INDUSTRY OF THE REPUBLIC
OF KAZAKHSTAN

The coronavirus epidemic will be the worst shock for global energy in 70 years. The share of green energy in global electricity production will increase due to priority access to networks and low operating costs. Despite interruptions in the supply chain that have delayed the deployment of a number of large projects, solar and wind power plants will increase the production of ‘clean’ electricity by 5%, which is also facilitated by higher hydropower generation.

The transport industry in Kazakhstan has suffered from quarantine measures introduced since March 19th in the republic amid the spread of coronavirus infection. The performance of the industry as a whole in January-April decreased by 11 percentage points, including due to the suspension of passenger air, rail and bus transportation.

The volume of container traffic through Kazakhstan increased by 12% compared to the same period last year (January-April). In the direction of China-Europe-China, the volume of container traffic amounted to 117,700TEUs, which is 23,400 thousand TEUs, or 25% more than in January-April 2019 (94,300TEUs).

Engineering is experiencing problems with the supply of components and markets. This industry is the most import-dependent. Imports of engineering products exceed local production by four times (according to the results of 2019, $17 billion).

Meanwhile, the government has begun work to ensure a special procedure for public procurement, aimed at supporting domestic producers, to ensure increased levels of localization. Work continues on the creation of the Industrial Development Fund, aimed at ensuring affordable lending to breakthrough manufacturing enterprises at a rate of no more than 3%, at the expense of funds, including funds collected under the extended obligations of manufacturers.

In turn, KAZAKH INVEST is constantly working to assist investors, both those existing and planning to work in Kazakhstan. Consulting support and services for investors in Kazakhstan are available 24/7.

So in 2019, the Service Block of the Company considered 3,172 oral and written requests from investors, including:
• 2,152 calls were processed through the Call Centre of the company and the same number of consultations was provided on various issues of investment activity in the republic, including at night, on weekends and holidays.

• 406 consultations were provided by the Investor Services Centre located in the AIFC Expat Centre.

Mostly investors were interested in measures of state support, issues of providing consultations and/or accepting documents for concluding investment preferences, issuing a visa to attract foreign labor and receiving an application for an investor visa.

• 109 written and oral consultations were provided regarding Kazakhstani legislation and measures of state support of investment activity to potential and current investors.

• 253 consultations on visa and migration issues were provided.

The main questions of investors are related to obtaining visas of categories – investor, business, work and business immigrants, as well as labor permits, residence permits, quotas as part of concluding an investment contract for priority projects, etc.

• 182 appeals of investors on visa and migration issues were considered and resolved.
• Within the framework of the Investment Ombudsman, 70 requests from investors were received for consideration by the company’s Service Unit. Of these, 39 were resolved positively, 31 were implemented (necessary meetings were held, consultations were provided and explanations given in accordance with the current legislation).

During the quarantine period in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic, despite the fact that KAZAKH INVEST employees have been transferred to remote mode, work does not stop, calls are regularly received even in a larger volume. Reception of calls is carried out through the Call Centre, investment portal, during this remote mode – through video conferencing and meetings.

So, for the period from January to April 2020, KAZAKH INVEST provided about 120 written and oral consultations on the application of Kazakhstani legislation and measures of state support of investment activities to potential and existing investors.

Through a round-the-clock Call Centre, investors are provided with advice on all matters of investment activity. Over the specified period, more than 500 calls through the Call Centre were processed and consultations on various aspects of conducting investment activities in Kazakhstan were presented.

Also, as part of the ongoing work to assist investors in resolving problematic issues, investors received appeals on 42 problematic issues of investors, 15 of them were resolved, 27 are in cooperation with interested state bodies and organizations.

Moreover, in the framework of providing support on visa and migration issues, 51 consultations were provided, 37 appeals of investors were accepted, 32 of them were resolved positively, five were not resolved, due to the epidemiological (coronovirus) situation. Privately, assistance was provided in resolving the issue of extending visas for 118 citizens of the PRC who are in the Republic of Kazakhstan and are not able to leave the Republic of Kazakhstan in connection with the emergency situation (CCM of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan). Assistance was provided in resolving two problematic visa and migration issues.

In addition, on an ongoing basis, assistance is provided to investors in the preparation of applications for investment preferences and the conclusion of an investment contract, and trainings are conducted on the interaction process within the framework of a ‘one-stop shop’ for front offices of the central, external and regional levels. Special attention is paid to bringing information to the target audience about measures of state support for investment activities, mechanisms for supporting investors, as well as working with foreign and regional organizations to attract investments.

For reference: services for investors are provided by calling the Call Centre +7 7172 620 620, advice on visa issues +77172 620 556, questions on incoming mail +7 7172 620 627, contact the Department for Investment Promotion –

+7 7172 620 629. We remind you that you can also get information, leave a request and get advice using the online request form on the national investment portal invest.gov.kz.