An applied research center that helps people navigate a changing economy. We analyze what is happening, understand how technology is changing it, and help prepare for the future.
We do not simply offer services. We solve real problems faced by the state, business, and civil society in conditions of uncertainty.
Open to collaboration, expert dialogue, and joint projects. Write to us — we’ll tell you more and discuss how we can be of help.
In one of our previous issues, we talked about the catastrophic debt burden of Kazakhstanis. Among the reasons for the current situation, experts then called the policy of banks, which in previous years were in great honor with the country's leadership, and, as a result, received gigantic financial injections. Financial institutions used it, got rich, gave these funds at interest to customers and got rich again. But it couldn't go on like this anymore.
A new political season has started in Kazakhstan, and the country is waiting for large-scale reforms. The CSTO exercises are taking place in Kyrgyzstan. Kazakhstan and Tajikistan want to enrich their friendship with uranium. Who inculcates extremist views from the outside in Kyrgyzstan, and why does Turkmenistan begin the battle for the harvest with prayer? These and other regional news are in the new season of the program "In the Center of Asia" with Robert Frantsev.
More than 70% of Kazakhstanis perceive China positively. This was told by the specialists of the Center for Applied Research "TALAP". They conducted a public opinion poll and analyzed the results in comparison with previous years' reports.
The purpose of the study is to calculate the perception index of China in Kazakhstan in 2023, analyse its dynamics since 2020, and identify the determining factors based on the public opinion survey.
We are glad to announce the update and relaunch of the site openbudget.kz ! The portal is dedicated to increasing transparency and accessibility of data on the budget of Kazakhstan. Updated website OpenBudget.kz It provides users with even more opportunities to analyze budget data, which makes the process of monitoring government spending more accessible and transparent. Analytical articles and notes on public finance issues will be published periodically on the portal.
Everyone was watching oil, food, and aviation kerosene. But the most durable consequences of the war manifested themselves in other sectors: fertilizers, petrochemicals, aluminum, insurance, and ocean freight. This is a story about why the loudest fears do not always turn out to be the main impact.
The Gulf War passed by Kazakhstan’s export route — but not by its economy. The real blow came not through Hormuz, but through the Black Sea, the CPC, Tengiz, and the limited capacity of alternative routes. This is the story of a country for which a high oil price proved weaker than an infrastructure disruption.
The war became a test for forecasters. Almost everyone identified the key point: the risk for Kazakhstan was not in Hormuz, but in the CPC, Tengiz, and export infrastructure. But beyond that, forecasts diverged. Some focused on GDP, others on the oil price, and still others on the tenge exchange rate. Reality showed that the key variable was not the Brent price, but the country’s ability to produce, export, and monetize oil.
