Tuesday, 20 October, gave Kazakhstan three stories that will run for months. The president named the date of his State of the Nation Address — 28 October. In Abai region work began on a copper smelter that KAZ Minerals rejected as pointless eight years ago. And on the oil market Kazakhstan's CPC Blend kept trading above benchmark Brent, while the government backed down on the fuel excise the same day.
Below is what follows from this and what to watch in the coming days.
Politics: the Address, appointments and the prosecutors
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev announced the Address himself on X: the speech is set for the morning of 28 October, and he is still working on the text.
The same day brought appointments in the Akorda's information block: Kanat Kulshmanov took over the Central Communications Service, and former deputy information minister Yevgeny Kochetov the administration's communications department. Prosecutor General Berik Asylov reported to the president that criminal offences fell by 14.6% in nine months and assets worth 1.3 trillion tenge were returned; the meeting took place ahead of the maslikhat elections.
Note. The annual State of the Nation Address is the president's programme speech, after which the government approves a national action plan with specific deadlines and responsible officials. That is why the Address is read not only as a political text: draft laws, budget decisions and ministries' reporting for the year ahead grow out of it.
Oil: CPC Blend above Brent, KEBCO without an open price
CPC Blend crude rose to $128 a barrel with Brent at about $110: the blend, which travels through the CPC pipeline bypassing the Strait of Hormuz, earned a premium for its route. The other export grade, KEBCO, has no open quotation; the only public benchmark is the average price of KEBCO and Brent used to calculate the export duty, which was $109 for 20 August–20 September.
Expensive oil also changes domestic policy. The Economy Ministry put forward a draft cutting the floating share of the additional fuel excise from 95% to 50%: it had been raised retroactively in September, and oil companies argued that domestic supplies were becoming loss-making. The draft restores the rules in force before 1 September.
Copper: the plant once rejected
The start of construction of the Aktogay copper smelter — 300,000 tonnes of copper cathode a year, $1.8 billion of investment, first cathodes in 2030 — is interesting for more than its scale. In 2018 KAZ Minerals' principal shareholder Oleg Novachuk called such a plant economically pointless: it was more profitable to process concentrate in China. Now the project is being built with China's NFC, and on the same day the government approved a method under which concentrate processing costs could more than double. Its authors expect the new method to improve economic conditions for metallurgical plants and make room for new investment.
Money and work
Household deposits grew to 30.5 trillion tenge in eight months, with all the growth coming from tenge deposits while foreign currency deposits shrank. The labour market shows the other side of growth: there are 75 CVs for 300 anaesthetist vacancies, and workers and engineers are in short supply. Production has its price too: since the start of the year 1,171 people have been injured at work, 282 of them in group accidents.
Digital stories: Starlink on trains and the crypto exchange ban
KTZ has fitted 1,500 carriages on 51 routes with Starlink: only text messages are free, the rest is paid. And the AIFC court banned six crypto platforms, including Coinbase and HTX, from operating in Kazakhstan without the centre's licence and ordered Google and Apple to restrict access to their apps. Two decisions on the same day show a common approach: digital services come into the country, but on local terms.
The region: Armenia and the EAEU
Kazakhstan, together with Russia, Belarus and Kyrgyzstan, signed a report on the consequences of suspending Armenia's EAEU membership: GDP down 15.6%, trade with the union more than halved, customs and work permits back. The report puts the dispute over Yerevan's course into numbers.
What next
28 October is the Address. On 21 October a storm reaches the north and east of the country, warnings have been issued in 17 regions, and FlyArystan has already cancelled flights to Pavlodar. The KEBCO price will become clearer when the State Revenue Committee publishes the average price for 20 September–20 October for the November duty.
List of sources used
- Kazinform: Tokayev to deliver his Address on 28 October, 20.10.2026
- VRK News: "Tokayev replaces head of the Central Communications Service", 20.10.2026
- Nasha Gazeta: Tokayev gives instructions to Asylov ahead of maslikhat elections, 20.10.2026
- VRK News: "CPC Blend crude becomes more expensive than Brent: what about KEBCO", 20.10.2026
- Petro Council: floating share of the fuel excise cut to 50%, 20.10.2026
- Metals ESG Trends: KAZ Minerals copper smelter in Abai region, 20.10.2026
- Ulysmedia: from an "economically pointless" project to $1.8 billion, 20.10.2026
- Metals ESG Trends: new method for copper concentrate processing costs, 21.10.2026
- VRK News: "Kazakh bank deposits grow to 30.5 trillion tenge as foreign currency savings shrink", 20.10.2026
- VRK News: "Vacancies far outnumber CVs: Labour Ministry names professions in short supply", 20.10.2026
- Informburo: more than a thousand workers injured at work, 20.10.2026
- Kazinform: Starlink on Kazakhstan's trains, 20.10.2026
- Bits.media: six major international crypto exchanges banned in Kazakhstan, 20.10.2026
- Business Online: EAEU states estimate Armenia's losses from suspending participation, 20.10.2026
- BES.media: FlyArystan cancels two flights between Almaty and Pavlodar, 20.10.2026
Artificial intelligence was used in preparing this material.
