What UNCTAD’s $24 Billion Finding Reveals About Kazakhstan’s Investment Direction
There is an important difference between capital that has already crossed a border and investment that companies intend to make. Kazakhstan’s performance in a new United Nations report is especially notable when viewed through that distinction. The Eurasian Economic Union Investment Report 2026, published by UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on 25 October, puts the value of announced greenfield projects in Kazakhstan at approximately $24 billion in 2025, up 34% from the previous year. That represented about 93% of the total announced project value across the five-member Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).
These are not completed investments: greenfield announcements concern plans to establish new facilities and operations. Their significance lies in what they reveal about future industrial capacity. For Kazakhstan, the scale of announced projects points to investor interest in building productive assets, rather than simply purchasing existing businesses or financial instruments. It also places the country at the centre of a wider change in how international companies are allocating new investment.
Globally, foreign direct investment rose by 6% to $1.6 trillion in 2025, according to UNCTAD. Yet the number of new investment projects announced worldwide fell by 10%. The EAEU followed a similar pattern: announced project value increased by 12% to $25.9 billion, while the number of projects declined from 122 to 80. In other words, fewer projects accounted for larger sums. Kazakhstan’s 34% increase therefore matters because it occurred in an environment characterised by large, capital-intensive commitments.
A second comparison is revealing. UNCTAD reports that Russia received approximately 93% of the EAEU’s net FDI inflows in 2025, while Kazakhstan accounted for roughly 93% of announced greenfield project value. These are different indicators, measuring actual financial flows and planned new facilities respectively. Kazakhstan itself recorded negative net inflows of $860 million that year. Rather than treating the figures as competing verdicts, the distinction helps explain why investment statistics can tell contrasting stories about current financing and the geography of future production.
The sectoral composition adds another dimension. Across the EAEU, announced investment in metals reached about $12.5 billion in 2025, up from $2.3 billion a year earlier. China was the region’s largest source of announced greenfield investment, accounting for approximately $16 billion. These are regional figures, not Kazakhstan-specific totals. Nevertheless, they help explain why Kazakhstan’s mineral base, proximity to China and potential for industrial processing are becoming more relevant to discussions about supply chains and the location of new production.
Large projects can generate much wider economic value when they stimulate domestic suppliers, technical skills, downstream processing and local employment. A processing plant, for example, may support engineering services, logistics providers and specialist manufacturers around it. The quality of these connections matters because the strongest investment benefits come from integrating it into an economy.
Regional industrial figures reinforce this point. The report notes that deliveries under industrial cooperation arrangements among EAEU members rose from $13.7 billion in 2016 to $31.1 billion in 2023, while manufacturing output across the union increased by 35.6% over that period. Those trends suggest scope for more connected production networks. Kazakhstan’s opportunity is to secure a larger role in them through facilities that process materials, assemble goods and supply components for regional and international customers.
That is also the direction of Kazakhstan’s investment policy. Its Investment Policy Concept to 2030, adopted in December 2025, prioritises private and foreign capital for domestic manufacturing, infrastructure, technology and non-resource exports. The underlying shift is from attracting investment as an end in itself towards selecting projects for the capabilities they create. For international investors, this gives greater prominence to commercially viable industrial partnerships, export-oriented production and long-term service contracts.
UNCTAD identifies investment facilitation as an important part of the picture. Its review of policy measures adopted between 2016 and 2025 found that 69% of measures across Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan were favourable to investment. It also highlights Kazakhstan’s one-stop investor services and digital platforms. Such arrangements matter because a promising investment proposition still has to pass through permits, infrastructure connections, financing and numerous administrative decisions before construction begins.
Kazakhstan has begun adapting its institutions to that practical challenge. Baiterek has been reshaped as a national investment holding company, while the government is using a Fast Track mechanism for priority projects and developing digital systems to monitor their progress. Specialised investor-support arrangements and efforts to resolve disputes before litigation are intended to reduce delays and improve predictability. Their economic value will be measured by whether they make it easier for investors to turn signed commitments into operating businesses.
The emphasis on implementation is particularly relevant to projects involving advanced processing or digital infrastructure. Both require more dependable utilities, a qualified workforce, workable logistics and confidence in long-term commercial rules are essential. Kazakhstan’s strategy seeks to link investment promotion with these conditions. This is where industrial diversification becomes tangible through higher-value output, technology transfer and stronger domestic participation in supply chains.
Recent agreements offer examples of the sectors involved. At the Kazakhstan Global Investment Roundtable (KGIR), held in Shymkent on 22 October, participants signed 22 documents with a reported aggregate value of $4.8 billion. These included investment agreements as well as memorandums, so their amounts represent proposed projects rather than money already spent. The range is more revealing than the total: manufacturing, energy, transport and digital infrastructure all featured, highlighting the broader priorities evident in UNCTAD’s assessment.
Among the announced projects were a $150 million glass-container plant in the Kazakh city of Aktobe, a $730 million wind farm with storage in Kostanay Region, and memorandums covering a $1 billion terminal at Kuryk Port and a $500 million data centre in Ekibastuz. Each addresses a different requirement of an industrial economy: domestic production capacity, electricity supply, access to international freight routes or computing infrastructure. Together, they illustrate the sorts of productive assets Kazakhstan is seeking to attract and develop.
The central message of UNCTAD’s report is therefore that Kazakhstan has emerged as the EAEU’s principal location for the value of announced new investment projects, at a time when global investors are becoming more selective about where they build. The next measure of success will be how effectively those announcements become operating facilities, local supplier relationships and internationally competitive output. That is the investment story worth following.
Contributed content: this article was written by a third-party contributor and does not necessarily reflect the views of ABC Money. Editorial and Advertising Policy
