ASTANA – Central Asia’s foreign direct investment (FDI) stock rose 3.6% to $235.5 billion in 2025, with Kazakhstan retaining roughly two thirds of the region’s total, according to the latest World Investment Report released by UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
Kazakhstan accounted for nearly 66% of Central Asia’s total, solidifying its position as the region’s largest destination for foreign investment. The nation’s FDI stock, which refers to the accumulated value of FDI held in a country, stood at $156.4 billion as of 2025.
It went up a little bit from $155.1 billion in 2024. In 2010, the figure was just $82.6 billion. Uzbekistan, meanwhile, recorded the strongest annual increase from $20.5 billion in 2024 to $26 billion in 2025. Central Asia’s FDI inflows. Photo credit: UNCTAD Kazakhstan was a major destination for newly announced large-scale investment projects.
One of them relates to a non-ferrous metals project worth more than $12 billion announced by China’s East Hope Group. The report ranks it among the 10 largest greenfield projects announced in developing Asia during the year. In terms of FDI inflows, Central Asia received $4.97 billion in 2025, up 12.1% from $4.43 billion in 2024.
This is a substantial fall compared to $9.8 billion that the region recorded in 2022. Foreign direct investment growth is concentrated in developed economies. Photo credit: UNCTAD According to the report, Uzbekistan drove Central Asia’s foreign investment recovery in 2025, attracting nearly $4.4 billion as inflows into Kazakhstan turned negative.
Kazakhstan recorded net FDI outflows of $861 million in 2025, compared with net inflows of $227 million a year earlier. The Kyrgyz Republic posted the region’s fastest percentage increase, with inflows more than doubling to $642 million. Tajikistan’s FDI inflows fell to $86 million, down 70% from $291 million.
According to the report, r esource and infrastructure projects in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan featured prominently in the region’s investment activity and project pipeline. “Investment activity was concentrated in metals and metal products, which together accounted for approximately 45% of total greenfield project activity in the region, followed by energy, transport and storage, chemicals, food processing, and ICT,” reads the report.
While global FDI increased by 6% to $1.6 trillion in 2025, this recovery has been uneven and fragile. When excluding financial flows routed through Europe’s largest investment hubs, the increase narrows to 4%.