Page 18 - bne_newspaper_August_3_2018

Eurasia
August 3, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 18
ployment in the tourism sector to 660,000 by 2025 up from 390,000 people in 2017.
In February, the Fund for the Reconstruction and Development of Uzbekistan (FRDU) pledged a credit line for $200mn to support the “co-financing of investment projects for the construction of hotels and facilities, and
Kazakhstan launches government bond settling via Clearstream
Kanat Shaku in Almaty
Kazakhstan’s central bank announced on July 30 that Kazakh government bonds and central bank notes can now be cleared through the internation- al central securities depository Clearstream.
Clearstream, owned by German stock market operator Deutsche Boerse, will provide easier ac- cess to the securities, thus making them more at- tractive to foreign investors. At the same time, the move enables the Central Asian country to borrow at more competitive rates. The Clearstream step is part of an overall ongoing drive in Kazakhstan to shift its focus more in favour of foreign invest- ment. Aside from hooking up the country to the clearing house, Kazakhstan recently launched the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC)—
a financial services centre that has ambitions to become a regional financial hub.
In January, Kazakhstan’s finance ministry and
the Astana International Exchange (AIX) stock exchange, which fully launched in July, signed an agreement to enable the clearing of Kazakh secu-
adjacent road, engineering and communications infrastructure”.
Some specific plans include the development of a “free tourist zone” in Tashkent Region
in Uzbekistan and of the “Altai cluster” in Kazakhstan. Both countries are attempting to attract foreign investments via tourism.
Clearstream has arrived in Astana, Astana has arrived in the international central securities depository.
rities via Euroclear. Settlements via Euroclear are expected to launch in 2019.
Foreign investors held KZT444bn (€1.14bn), or 10.2%, of the central bank’s outstanding short- term notes as of May 1, according to the regula- tor's data.
Yield-hungry investors
Kazakhstan is hoping to tap into large inflows from yield-hungry international investors. Such a scenario was enjoyed by Russia after it made its domestic system compliant with Euroclear and Clearstream in 2012. For ex-Soviet Kazakhstan’s big northern neighbour, adding the two clearing companies meant that investors in London and New York could buy and trade government debt without going to the cost and inconvenience of setting up accounts with local securities deposi- tories. Outstanding finance ministry treasury bills (OFZs) trades appear on their terminals world- wide with a trading floor. Russian government bonds held by foreign investors accounted for a