ADB approves $350M loan to support Kazakhstan’s fiscal governance and financial sector reforms

ADB’s Fiscal Governance and Financial Sector Reforms Program supports fiscal reforms to strengthen governance and accountability in public investment processes, ensuring debt sustainability.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $350 million policy-based loan to support Kazakhstan’s fiscal governance and financial sector reforms and strengthen the economy’s resilience to external shocks.

“Kazakhstan’s reforms are central to strengthening fiscal management, transparency, sustainability, and governance, as well as the stability and inclusion of the financial sector,” said ADB Director General for Central and West Asia Yevgeniy Zhukov. “Progress in these areas will promote fiscal and banking resilience and help to develop the nation’s capital markets. We are pleased to have approved this new program—the first policy-based loan for Kazakhstan—which will enhance the country’s economic resilience through reforms that are especially relevant in the current global and regional context.”

ADB’s Fiscal Governance and Financial Sector Reforms Program supports fiscal reforms to strengthen governance and accountability in public investment processes, ensuring debt sustainability. The program will also strengthen the financial governance framework of the National Fund of the Republic of Kazakhstan to promote transparency and fiduciary control.

“ADB’s program will help create an enabling environment that is critical to developing the government securities market and introducing climate policy accounting and assessment,” said ADB Principal Financial Sector Economist Joao Pedro Farinha. “It will also support women in particular via gender-responsive budgeting and help to institutionalize public support for women’s entrepreneurship development.”

The program supports policies that foster sustainable financial intermediation, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises. The reforms will help to enhance the effectiveness of banking supervision and promote financing towards environmentally responsive investments.

ADB will also provide a $650,000 technical assistance grant to support the implementation of the program’s key reform actions. The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is expected to provide parallel cofinancing of $350 million for subprogram 1.

Kazakhstan was the first Central Asian country to join ADB. Since it became a member in 1994, ADB has approved more than $6.8 billion in government and private sector loans, as well as grants to finance technical assistance.

ADB is helping the country develop and upgrade its regional connectivity, support private sector enterprises, foster gender and social equality, and deliver knowledge products and services. Regional cooperation and integration initiatives under the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Program are an integral part of ADB operations in Kazakhstan.