Eurasian Development Bank may invest over $3.5 bln in Kazakhstan in 2024

ASTANA. Feb 12 (Interfax) - The Eurasian Development Bank is mulling investment projects worth over $3.5 billion in Kazakhstan in 2024, the Kazakh presidential press service said in a statement.

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev met with Eurasian Development Bank CEO Nikolai Podguzov on Monday, and the latter informed the former of the bank's results and plans for 2024, the statement said.

The Eurasian Development Bank's investments in Kazakhstan totaled $4.2 in 2022-2023, with the share of Kazakh projects amounting to 59%, the statement said.

"The value of potential projects that the Eurasian Development Bank may implement in Kazakhstan in 2024 exceeds $3.5 billion," Podguzov said.

The bank's priority investment areas in Kazakhstan include transport infrastructure, heat generation and distribution, renewable energy sources, industrial production, as well as agriculture and water resources, he said.

The Eurasian Development Bank intends to support development of the Kazakh financial market and introduce new instruments for funding infrastructure projects, he said, presenting results of a study into water and energy sector of Central Asia.

The bank plans to give up to $10 million in grants to develop regional centers for water- and energy-efficient technologies, he said.

The bank will also give $400 million to finance projects aimed at digitalization of water resources management, laser levelling of irrigation land and production of the state-of-the-art irrigation systems, Podguzov said.

The Eurasian Development Bank is an international financial organization, established by Russia and Kazakhstan in January 2006. Its goal is to assist the development of the market economies, as well as to ensure stable economic growth and expand trade. Apart from Russia and Kazakhstan, other bank's member states are Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.