Kazakhstan Enters Top Five Recipients of FDI Inflows in 2022

Kazakhstan entered the top five recipients of foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2022, with an 83% increase to $6.1 billion, according to the World Investment Report 2023 published by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on July 5.

Kazakhstan ranked first in terms of net FDI in 32 landlocked developing countries, whose inflow rose by 6% to $20 billion last year, followed by Ethiopia, Uzbekistan, Mongolia and Uganda.

While equity turned negative, net FDI inflows to Central Asia increased by 39% to record- high $10 billion boosted by high profits in the extractive industries. Kazakhstan accounted for 61% of that.

Kazakhstan also took the first place with the highest indicator recorded among the post-Soviet countries in the past five years, followed by Uzbekistan with $2.5 billion, Lithuania with $2.2 billion, Georgia with $2 billion, Belarus with $1.6 billion, Latvia with $1.5 billion, Estonia with $1.2 billion, Turkmenistan with $936 million, Ukraine with $848 million, Moldova with $587 million, Armenia with $366 million, the Kyrgyz Republic with $291 million, and Tajikistan with $174 million. Azerbaijan and Russia registered negative results of -$1.7 billion and -$18.7 billion, respectively.

Kazakhstan also ranked fifth among developing economies with $56.3 billion net investments attracted in renewable energy projects over 2015-2022.

In 2022, global net FDI flows decreased by 12% to $1.3 trillion due to the conflict in Ukraine, high food and energy prices, and soaring public debt. Developed countries witnessed a 37% decline to $378 billion in net FDI inflows, while flows to developing countries increased on average by 4%.

Established in 1964, UNCTAD is the main body of the United Nations General Assembly that serves as a coordinating center for development issues and related topics in trade, finance, technology, investment, and sustainable development. Its main tasks include promoting global economic development through the development of recommendations, principles, organizational and legal conditions, and mechanisms for the functioning of modern international economic relations.