Kazakhstan to resume National Fund withdrawals for infrastructure projects

September 28, 2026 at 05:26 PM2 min

This digest was compiled by AI from multiple sources — links to the originals are below.

Kazakhstan's government is reinstating targeted transfers from the National Fund, reversing its earlier policy to forgo withdrawals. The funds will be directed toward major construction projects, including hospitals, gas transmission, and defense facilities. The move comes despite earlier plans to reduce annual withdrawals to 2.7 trillion tenge.

Key Facts

The government plans to withdraw an additional 2 trillion tenge ($4.5 billion) from the National Fund in 2027.
Withdrawals from the National Fund peaked at 5.6 trillion tenge ($12.5 billion) in 2024.
President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev announced in late August that Kazakhstan must tap the National Fund to transform the country into a large construction site.
The Ministry of National Economy said the funds will be used for hospitals, clinics, gas transmission, heat and electric power, transportation, defense, and law and order.

Policy Reversal

Kazakhstan's government is reinstating targeted transfers from the National Fund, a U-turn from its earlier policy to forgo withdrawals to prevent depletion. A year earlier, authorities had announced a three-year moratorium on withdrawals from the fund. In late August, President Tokayev said the country needed to accomplish a great deal of tasks and essentially transform all of Kazakhstan into a large construction site. He said Kazakhstan must once again tap into the National Fund to this end.

Funding Allocations

The Ministry of National Economy told Vlast that the National Fund was not exclusively conceived as a safety net for the future. The ministry stated that the funds will be designated for the construction and modernization of hospitals and clinics, as well as the development of the gas transmission system, heat and electric power industry, and transportation infrastructure. It will also be allocated towards defense facilities, and law and order. The government plans to withdraw an additional 2 trillion tenge ($4.5 billion) from the National Fund next year, and up to 1.5 trillion tenge ($3.4 billion) in 2028 and 2029.

Economic Concerns

Economists interviewed by Vlast call this decision a necessary measure, because alternative funding sources have already been exhausted. They worry that these funds will be allocated to more than just infrastructure, with less transparency surrounding their expenditure compared to foreign loans. Most importantly, this decision will increase the dependence of the national budget on oil sales, in direct contradiction to the government's stated objectives. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the government had been dispensing approximately 5 trillion tenge ($11.2 billion) from the fund each year.