Economy
Business and investment
A Russia-anchored development bank is widening its map. Oman is joining, Mongolia is in talks
At its annual meeting in Almaty, the Eurasian Development Bank said Oman will join this year and Mongolia is in negotiations, with its portfolio now around $22 billion. A bank built by Moscow and Astana is collecting members well beyond the post-Soviet space, at a moment when one of its founders is under sanctions.
The IMF likes Uzbekistan’s numbers and still flags the risks
Uzbekistan grew 7.7% in 2025 and brought inflation down, the IMF said this week. The praise came with the usual instruction: keep policy tight, because the easy part of the cycle is ending.
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Kazakhstan barely notices remittances. For two of its neighbours, they are the economy
New figures show Kazakhstan sent about $376 million abroad in the first four months of 2026 and took in far less. Money wired home by migrants barely registers in its economy. Two doors down, in Dushanbe and Bishkek, the same flow is most of the household budget. One region, two opposite economies.
The Netherlands tops Kazakhstan’s investor table at $125 billion. The figure is mostly a mailing address
Kazakhstan said this week that Dutch investment has passed $125 billion, keeping the Netherlands its largest foreign investor. The same week in Brussels, Tokayev cited $210 billion of European money. Both numbers count a great deal of capital that only stops in Europe on its way through.
Central Asia tops $600 billion as the EDB gathers in Almaty
The Eurasian Development Bank meets in Almaty on 25 and 26 June behind a flattering number: regional output above $600 billion for the first time, with growth over 6.5%. Beneath the headline sits a harder figure, the cost of the debt that paid for it.
Tajikistan ordered 14 Boeing jets. The question is what pays for them
A fleet order worth billions sits on an economy that runs on migrant wages, owes its debt partly in gold mines, and routes its hard-currency earnings through offshore shells tied to the president's family. The aircraft are real. The questions the Washington ceremony left out are the ones worth asking.
Dushanbe police break up a fake-medicine ring selling children's syrups
Police in the Tajik capital shut down an underground operation that produced counterfeit medicines, including children's syrups sold under brand names, in unsanitary conditions. One man is detained. The haul points to a public-health problem bigger than a single workshop.
Kyrgyzstan moves 66,000 hectares to organic farming
Bishkek says it has converted 66,000 hectares to certified organic production in a nationwide push. For a small economy hunting export niches it cannot win on volume, organic is a sensible bet on value.
EBRD puts $25 million into an Uzbek steelmaker
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is lending $25 million to expand steel production in Uzbekistan. It is the kind of mid-size, real-economy deal that tells you more about the investment climate than any forum headline.
Kazakhstan secures land for a port base on the Persian Gulf, at Bandar Abbas
Iran has finalized the allocation of a plot for a Kazakh logistics terminal at Shahid Rajaee port in Bandar Abbas, its main gateway on the Gulf. It is a concrete step toward the southern corridor Central Asia has chased for years. The plot sits on the same strait Iran spent the weekend threatening to close.
Tashkent's forum closes, and the number that matters is the conversion rate
TIIF-2026 wrapped on 18 June. The closing headline figure was still not public as this pack went out, but a more telling number did surface: about 35% of the deals signed at last year's forum are already in implementation.
Oyu Tolgoi exports resume a day after protesters blocked the road
Rio Tinto restarted copper concentrate shipments from its giant Mongolian mine on 18 June, a day after the Radical Reform movement blocked the export road. The protest lasted under a day. The grievance behind it has lasted years.
Tashkent's investment forum closes on its deal-making day
TIIF-2026 ends on 18 June with the Foreign Investors Council session that turns three days of pitches into commitments. The benchmark to beat is last year's $30.5 billion. The closing tally is expected later today.
Protesters block Oyu Tolgoi road and halt copper exports to China
Mongolia's Radical Reform movement blocked the main transport road from Rio Tinto's Oyu Tolgoi mine at 09:00 on 17 June, stopping copper concentrate trucks heading for the Chinese border. Rio's shares fell 1.6% in London. The dispute is about who gets how much from one of the world's largest copper deposits.
Uzbekistan's Wednesday: plenary stage, two supertankers, and the Azteca
In a single day Uzbekistan ran its largest investment pitch, watched the first Iranian oil leave through Hormuz since the blockade, and sent eleven men to play the World Cup at the Estadio Azteca. Each is a separate story. Lined up, they describe a country that is having a moment.
Mirziyoyev opens TIIF with an invitation and a framework; Germany and Tajikistan respond
Mirziyoyev told nearly 4,000 delegates Uzbekistan's doors will always remain open and framed investment as a partnership, not a capital transfer. Germany's president arrived for a bilateral focused on industry and labour. Tajikistan set a $2 billion trade target.
A good week to be pitching Central Asia
TIIF in Tashkent, the IsDB in Baku, and the Iran deal ticking toward Geneva have converged in a single week. The timing is not accidental. Central Asia has a window, and Uzbekistan in particular is spending it hard.
Islamic Development Bank opens its annual meetings in Baku with $2.8 billion in approvals
The IsDB's 51st annual gathering opened in Baku on 16 June under the theme of regional integration. The bank approved $2.8 billion in financing at its board meeting and signed trade finance agreements with Tajikistan on the sidelines.
Iran deal inches toward Friday's signing, Hormuz still barely moving
The US–Iran framework agreement is on track for a Geneva ceremony on 19 June, but the Strait of Hormuz remains close to shut. Three days of pre-implementation talks in Doha separate the region's energy markets from any real relief.
Mirziyoyev opens the investment forum his country has been building toward
The fifth Tashkent International Investment Forum opened its plenary on 17 June with €75 billion in projects on the table. Uzbekistan is pitching itself as Central Asia's investment hub in front of more than 8,300 delegates from 100 countries.