Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has set out a sweeping construction and modernisation programme in his annual State-of-the-Nation Address, titled Kazakhstan's Priorities in a New Historical Cycle, delivered in Astana on 28 October. The centrepiece is about 6.5 trillion tenge from the National Fund for infrastructure modernisation by the end of 2029, with a further 1.5 trillion tenge earmarked to launch social projects this year and in the first two months of 2027.

Building homes, hospitals and power

Tokayev proposed declaring 2027 the Year of Large-Scale Construction. The first phase of a nationwide healthcare programme includes eight modern perinatal centres and seven multidisciplinary children's hospitals in Atyrau, Aktobe, Almaty, Shymkent, Kaskelen, Semey and Aktau, He also instructed the government to raise primary healthcare workers' salaries by up to 40% from 1 January 2027, and announced the minimum wage will rise from 85,000 to 110,000 tenge on the same date. On energy, he set a target of a sustained electricity surplus by 2029, saying current output of 123 billion kilowatt-hours is inadequate for an economy planning to digitalise fully and build data centres, and calling for new plants, modernised grids, clean coal generation and more solar power.

The economic backdrop

Tokayev cited an International Monetary Fund forecast putting Kazakhstan's GDP at approaching $400 billion this year, with per capita GDP above $19,000 and the country climbing to 47th place worldwide. He said gold and foreign exchange reserves, together with National Fund assets, had passed $130 billion, and argued those resources should fund regional development. He also urged banks to play a bigger role in long-term investment lending and asked the government to examine higher taxation for people with large fortunes, while defending legally acquired assets, a proposal with no rate or threshold yet defined.

Sources: Qazinform News Agency and EU Reporter.