21 October: what changed for Kazakhstan

Graphic: a map pin and the word Kazakhstan — VRK News graphic. AI-generated

The main decision of Wednesday, 21 October, came in the evening: the Security Council approved the Military Reform Plan, and conscript service will be split into six months of training and six months of service in a unit. But the day changed other things too. The National Bank announced it would start selling gold, the Foreign Ministry answered Moscow's request to explain the QazETA rules, and rules for 2027 appeared for moving to regions short of workers, in which Astana, Almaty and Shymkent are listed among the regions of departure, that is, those from which the state helps people move.

Below is what follows from this and what to watch in the coming weeks.

The army: reform after the Caspian

The Security Council chaired by Kassym-Jomart Tokayev approved the Military Reform Plan. Conscript service remains a year long, but recruits will spend the first six months at training centres and only then join units. The army will form Unmanned Systems Forces, a commissioner for servicemen's affairs and an institution of military counsellors will appear, and military-patriotic training will be brought together in the Zhas Aibyn system. Organisational measures are planned by the end of 2026 and the main ones for 2027; the president instructed that the comprehensive audit of the Defence Ministry be completed by the end of the year.

The decision came a month after 14 servicemen died during exercises near Aktau on 24 September, and after the defence minister was replaced. Two days before the meeting, Tokayev heard reports on the army's combat readiness and spending. Akorda did not name the cost of the reform.

Note. Kazakhstan's Security Council works under the chairmanship of the president and coordinates the actions of state bodies in national security and defence. Implementation of the Military Reform Plan is coordinated jointly by the government and the Security Council.

Money: gold, the digital tenge and bank profits

The National Bank announced that by the end of the year it will reduce the share of gold in its reserves from about 78% to 75%: half of the reduction will come from selling options and half from selling the metal. Deputy Chair Aliya Moldabekova explained the decision by the high yield on US bonds, which makes the dollar more attractive than a metal that pays no interest.

On the same day Bank RBK issued the first loans in digital tenge to companies: money under the Damu Fund's Orleu programme can be spent only on what the loan was issued for. A National Bank report showed that banks' net profit for nine months fell by 10% to 1.8 trillion tenge, and insurers' profit over eight months by 53.6%. Pension savers transferred 58.3 billion tenge from the state pension fund to private managers in September, five times more than in August. The Interior Ministry said that losses to fraudsters fell from 70 billion to 40 billion tenge.

Borders and entry: QazETA and queues

After Moscow asked for an explanation, the Foreign Ministry sent information on QazETA to all 85 countries with a visa-free regime, and a separate briefing will be held for embassies in Astana. The first checks of electronic authorisations begin on 1 November at Aktau airport and four road border crossings, and the document becomes mandatory from 1 July 2027.

At the border itself the issue is not only documents. Modernising the checkpoints cost 118 billion tenge, but the queues remain: Finance Minister Madi Takiyev attributed them to growing traffic — 650,000 vehicles in nine months, almost 20% more than a year earlier. The Kurultai ratified agreements on cooperation between customs services with Uzbekistan and Pakistan. And the National Security Committee uncovered a scheme for exporting petroleum products through the port of Aktau: in 2019–2023 more than 160,000 tonnes worth about 45 billion tenge were shipped out under the guise of heating oil.

Relocation and social aid: rules for 2027

New rules for voluntary resettlement, approved by an order of the Minister of Labour and Social Protection of 13 October, take effect on 1 January 2027. They list Almaty, Zhambyl, Mangystau and Turkestan regions, as well as Astana, Almaty and Shymkent, as regions of departure. Resettlers are entitled to a relocation payment, monthly compensation for rent and utilities — 20–30 monthly calculation indices in cities, depending on family size — and help with buying housing. The programme is open to the unemployed, specialists in in-demand professions, heads of peasant and farm households and kandas (ethnic Kazakh returnees); the main condition is a job or one's own business in the new place, and those who leave the region within five years may lose the payments.

On the same day it became known that from 2027 targeted social assistance will be assigned according to the wellbeing of the whole household rather than membership of a social category. Figures on dilapidated housing were also heard in the Kurultai: by 2029 local authorities plan to resettle only 42% of owners from unsafe and dilapidated buildings.

Investment and technology

The IFC intends to work up projects worth about $3 billion in Kazakhstan by 2031, with around 60% of the money coming from private sources. A Kazakhstan-Korea Rare Metals Technology Centre opened in Almaty, and in Karaganda Region the first phase of a radiator plant using recycled aluminium, worth more than 20 billion tenge, was launched. Kazakhstan and China are setting up a centre for driverless freight transport with a pilot China–Kazakhstan route, and trade with the EU over eight months amounted to $31.6 billion, with the removal of barriers discussed at a committee meeting in Brussels.

The day's digital agenda was in industry and the police. Kazakhmys opened a digital production control centre in Zhezkazgan with AI-based video analytics, and the Petropavlovsk police put a robot dog into service that can recognise faces. Special procurement rules were approved for the first nuclear power plant, with closed tenders and single-source purchases subject to the agency's approval.

What next

The president will deliver his Address to the nation on 28 October. The procurement rules for the nuclear plant take effect on 30 October, and checks of QazETA authorisations begin on 1 November. By the end of the year the organisational measures of the military reform and the Defence Ministry audit are due to be completed. The new rules on resettlement and targeted social assistance apply from 1 January 2027.

List of sources used

Artificial intelligence was used in preparing this material.

#Kazakhstan #Economy #Politics #Army #Analysis

Subscribe to our Telegram channel and be the first to know the news

The army: reform after the Caspian

Money: gold, the digital tenge and bank profits

Borders and entry: QazETA and queues

Relocation and social aid: rules for 2027

Investment and technology

What next

List of sources used

Read also

Security Council approves military reform: conscript service to be split in two

21 October in the world: three-way talks, the Gulf and a PHP flaw

PHP vulnerabilities: government websites temporarily taken offline in 13 countries