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  "path": "/english/69653-the-week-in-kazakhstan-bright-future.html",
  "publishedAt": "2026-06-05T18:00:00.000Z",
  "site": "https://vlast.kz",
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  "textContent": "Kazakhstan’s Central Bank cut interest rates on June 5 from 18% to 17%. In January, Central Bank’s head Timur Suleimenov had said that he did not expect the rate to be modified for the first half of the year. The current cut, according to Suleimenov, is linked to improved forecasts for the rest of the year. He also noted that the decision should not affect the value of the tenge. In May, year-on-year inflation was at 10.4%, according to the Statistics Committee’s press release on June 1.\n\nThe ministry of justice registered on June 1 Adilet (Kazakh for “Justice”), a new party. The party had its founding congress on May 7 and is headed by former chief of Presidential Administration Aibek Dadebai. Over the past decade, several political groups applied for registration, but before Adilet only two political parties have registered: the pro-government Respublica and Baitak parties. [_Read more here_.]\n\nFinancial giant Freedom Holding applied for a French banking license, the company said on June 1. Owned by billionaire Timur Turlov, Freedom pledged a $500 million investment. Nasdaq-listed Freedom Holding is currently under scrutiny from the US Security and Exchange Commission.\n\nreQUEst, a Kazakhstani activist group, has petitioned a court in Astana to open legal proceedings against the ministry of culture, following the ministry’s alleged decision to block a website created by the group to spread personal, psychological, and legal advice to the country’s LGBTQ+ community. On June 1, reQUEst said court hearings are set to take place on June 8. Should the case go to trial, it would be the first time that the “anti-LGBT propaganda law” is applied in Kazakhstan. [_Read more here_.]\n\nThe relatives of activists from the unregistered Atajurt party were removed from trains and detained while en route to Astana for a meeting with representatives of the US embassy, the International Bureau of Human Rights said at a press conference on June 1. The activists were convicted in April in a controversial trial.\n\nAdil Soz, a local press freedom watchdog, issued a statement of concern regarding Alexandra Alekhova, a journalist who re-published content from a popular Telegram channel. While the post itself was not considered by police as a violation, the repost made by Alekhova was. The journalist is accused of unlawfully spreading the personal information that cost serious damage (Article 147 of the Criminal Code) that can be punished from three to seven years in prison.\n\nOn June 3, the parliament approved a wide-ranging amnesty cancelling the collection of 1.5 million administrative fines and citations worth 21 billion tenge ($43 million). The amnesty will also apply to more than 15,000 convicted individuals, of whom more than 5,000 are serving sentences in correctional facilities and 10,000 are under probation.\n\nActivist Muratbai Zhumagaliyev was detained in Zhanaozen, an oil town in the western Mangistau region, on June 3. He had publicly reported being the target of a defamation campaign. The next day, drilling workers at state-owned oil and gas company Ozenmunaigaz stopped work for one hour, demanding the release of Zhumagaliyev.\n\nMore than 2,800 unscheduled inspections conducted this year found around 2,800 violations of the labor code, minister of labor Askarbek Yertayev said at a government meeting on June 2. Yertayev noted that, compared to 2024, workplace accidents last year decreased by 4.5%.\n\nFrom August 2027, two private schools in Kazakhstan will switch from the Haileybury to the Wellington brand. The two schools – the first opened in Almaty in 2008 and the second in Astana in 2011 – operate under a British educational system and are recognized in Kazakhstan. The school management said on June 4 that it has “no plans to change curriculum pathways” as they rebrand in favor of Haileybury’s rival Wellington College.\n\n**Sign up for our English-language newsletter.**",
  "title": "The Week in Kazakhstan: Bright Future"
}