Private capital is taking a bigger role in Kazakhstan’s economy. Budget funding accounted for just 14% of fixed capital investment in January–August 2026, while off-budget sources reached 86% as the country moves toward a new model designed to mobilize private investment, expand manufacturing and reduce dependence on extractive industries, DKNews.kz reports.
The transformation is part of the implementation of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s Address, “Kazakhstan in the Era of Artificial Intelligence: Current Tasks and Their Solutions Through Digital Transformation.” At the center of the new architecture is Baiterek, which has been transformed into a national investment holding with an expanded mandate to attract private capital and support major projects.
Kazakhstan targets another $150 billion in investment
The Investment Policy Concept through 2030 was adopted in December 2025. Under the new model, Kazakhstan is moving away from waiting for investors to arrive and toward proactively identifying companies and preparing projects for them.
Regions are expected to determine priority sector niches and develop investment proposals in advance.
By 2029, Kazakhstan plans to attract an additional $150 billion through Baiterek’s instruments.
Investor support is also being reorganized across external, central and regional levels. The system includes the Fast Track mechanism for accelerated project processing and an expanded role for the Investment Headquarters under the Government.
Investor protection measures include a “prosecutorial filter,” a unified register of problematic issues and complaints, and mechanisms for settling investment disputes before they reach court.
In 2025, Kazakhstan concluded 30 Investment Agreements. Another 26 agreements worth around 5.2 trillion tenge had been signed in 2026.
AI enters Kazakhstan’s investment infrastructure
Digitalization is becoming another part of the investment model.
The Government plans to develop the National Digital Investment Platform and create an integrated analytical system for monitoring investment projects using data analytics and elements of artificial intelligence.
A task-force mechanism is also being developed for major foreign partners, while a “green corridor” is intended to accelerate administrative procedures.
Kazakhstan Investment House is planned on the basis of Kazakh Invest in Astana. The center is expected to operate as a single point of contact for investors.
The investment pipeline already includes 667 specific projects worth a combined $162.5 billion, alongside another $42.6 billion portfolio focused on developing the raw material base.
Fixed capital investment reached 23.5 trillion tenge
Investment activity accelerated significantly in 2025.
Fixed capital investment increased from more than 19.4 trillion tenge in 2024 to around 23.5 trillion tenge in 2025. In real terms, growth accelerated from 8% to 16.7%.
More than 13.5 trillion tenge was invested in January–August 2026, up 8.1% year on year.
Several large projects illustrate where this capital is going.
Fufeng Group is implementing a $350 million deep corn processing project in Zhambyl Region, while Dalian Hesheng Holding Group is developing a $500 million deep wheat processing complex in Akmola Region.
Spanish Roca Group is working on a $70 million sanitary ware manufacturing and assembly plant in Kyzylorda Region.
In Almaty Region, Solico Group has started construction of a $58.8 million cheese plant with planned production capacity of 155 tonnes per day. The facility is expected to launch in 2027 and create around 400 jobs.
Other projects under consideration or implementation include a $1.1 billion Caspian port project by Guoyou Materials Group and a $700 million agro-industrial cluster by Swiss Harvest Group SA.
Budget financing falls to 14%
One of the clearest changes is not simply how much Kazakhstan invests, but where the money comes from.
The state budget accounted for 21.6% of fixed capital investment in 2024 and 21.5% in 2025. In January–August 2026, that share dropped to 14%.
Off-budget sources provided the remaining 86%, including:
- enterprises’ own funds — 66.7%;
- bank loans — 5.6%;
- other borrowed funds — 13.7%.
The figures point to a model in which public financing is increasingly intended to mobilize additional capital rather than remain the primary source of investment.
Manufacturing takes a larger share
The destination of investment is changing as well.
In 2025, real investment increased by 61.8% in energy, 51.8% in the agro-industrial complex, 39% in manufacturing and 32% in information and communications.
The trend continued in January–August 2026. Investment rose by 49.3% in energy, 45.3% in information and communications, 39.9% in manufacturing and 17.6% in the agro-industrial complex.
Manufacturing’s share of total investment increased from 10.7% in 2024 to 12.7% in 2025 and 14.1% in January–August 2026.
At the same time, mining’s share declined from 18.7% in 2024 to 13.9% over the first eight months of 2026.
The shift is also becoming visible in GDP. Manufacturing increased from 12.4% of GDP in 2024 to 12.8% in 2025 and reached 14% in the first half of 2026.
Baiterek puts 8 trillion tenge behind the real sector
Baiterek is becoming the central financial institution in the redesigned investment system.
In 2026, financing for the real sector through its instruments is planned at 8 trillion tenge, including 1 trillion tenge provided through the holding’s capitalization.
The Development Bank of Kazakhstan has raised the minimum financing threshold for investment projects to 15 billion tenge and for export operations to 3 billion tenge, concentrating its resources on larger strategic projects.
The Industrial Development Fund is placing greater emphasis on mechanical engineering, where the minimum financing amount is set at 1 billion tenge.
Since the beginning of 2026, total support including housing reached 7.4 trillion tenge, with 5.4 trillion tenge directed to entrepreneurship.
Around 5,000 SME projects worth 1.4 trillion tenge received support through the Damu Fund. More than 1 trillion tenge was allocated to over 10,000 agricultural producers through Agrarian Credit Corporation and KazAgroFinance.
Another 2.5 trillion tenge was provided through the Development Bank of Kazakhstan, Industrial Development Fund and Qazaqstan Investment Corporation to finance 504 large business projects and investment initiatives.
The Export Credit Agency supported 78 exporters for more than 522 billion tenge.
SMEs can receive guarantees of up to 85%
Access to financing is also being expanded for smaller businesses.
Under the Guarantee Fund, loans of up to 7 billion tenge can receive guarantees covering as much as 85% of financing, although the guarantee itself cannot exceed 3.5 billion tenge.
The Orleu program provides financing of up to 7 billion tenge at a final annual rate of 12.6% for up to 10 years. Manufacturing, tourism, IT and creative industries are among its priorities.
Orleu Leasing provides up to 500 million tenge per borrower for production modernization.
The Isker Aymaq program offers loans of up to 200 million tenge, with processing and manufacturing among its main priorities.
Interaction with development institutions is being consolidated through a single front office, the 1408 contact center, a CRM system and a unified AI assistant.
346 infrastructure projects approved
The new investment architecture extends beyond factories and private businesses.
Under the utility and energy modernization mechanism, 346 projects worth 884.6 billion tenge have already been approved.
The projects are intended to modernize utility networks, reduce accident rates and improve heat, electricity, water supply and sanitation infrastructure.
Baiterek acts as the financial operator, coordinating funding through its subsidiaries, commercial banks and international financial institutions.
Agricultural leasing nearly doubles
Agriculture is another major recipient of financing.
KazAgroFinance concluded leasing agreements worth 268.9 billion tenge for 10,393 units of agricultural machinery in 2025.
In the first half of 2026 alone, financing reached 250.5 billion tenge, almost double the 126.6 billion tenge recorded during the same period a year earlier.
A total of 3,931 agricultural producers used the company’s services.
The leasing process has also been digitized. Farmers can apply remotely, while an AI-based service analyzes documents and can issue a decision within 10 minutes.
The bigger shift is in how capital works
Kazakhstan’s investment reset is therefore broader than a rise in headline investment figures.
The emerging model combines proactive investor targeting, digital project monitoring, greater protection for investors, development-institution financing and a larger role for businesses’ own and borrowed funds.
The sectoral numbers show the intended direction: manufacturing is attracting a larger share of investment while mining’s share is declining.
The challenge will be turning a pipeline worth hundreds of billions of dollars into operating factories, infrastructure and export capacity — while ensuring that public financing attracts rather than replaces private capital.
DKNews.kz previously examined the same institutional shift when Baiterek began moving from a conventional development holding toward a central coordinator of Kazakhstan’s investment system, including project selection, private-capital mobilization and export-oriented financing.
Baiterek Shifts to a New Investment Model: What Is Changing for Kazakhstan’s Economy.
