Kazakhstan’s exports rose 27.1% to $48.5 billion in the first half of 2026, helping the country’s current account swing to a $2.4 billion surplus from a deficit a year earlier, Qazinform News Agency reports, citing the National Bank of Kazakhstan. In comparison, Kazakhstan posted a current account deficit of $3.6 billion in the first half of 2025.
A year later, the situation improved significantly, with the surplus reaching $3.2 billion in the second quarter of 2026 alone, largely driven by stronger exports. Export growth was recorded across more than 80% of product categories, supported by higher global prices for key commodities, including oil, uranium, metals, ores, and grain.
Imports rose 6.2% in the first half of the year to $32.3 billion, mainly due to increased purchases of intermediate and investment goods used to support ongoing projects and production. Meanwhile, imports of non-food consumer goods fell 11.2%, driven largely by lower imports of cars, clothing, and footwear.
The decline has continued since the fourth quarter of 2023. Kazakhstan’s international investment position — the difference between its external assets and liabilities to non-residents — also continued to improve. In 2020, external liabilities exceeded assets by the equivalent of 42.1% of GDP, but by the end of the first half of 2026, the gap had narrowed to 11.3% of GDP, or $37.5 billion.
As of July 1, the public sector held around $130.8 billion in external assets, including the National Bank’s international reserves, while its external liabilities stood at $18.6 billion. As a result, external assets exceeded liabilities by $112.2 billion. Kazakhstan’s external debt-to-GDP ratio also declined, falling 3.3 percentage points from the beginning of the year to 56.6%.
This compares with 119.1% in 2016. Earlier, Qazinform News Agency reported that Kazakhstan had imported 9,600 tons of children’s toys from January to July 2026, the lowest volume recorded for the same period since at least 2015.