Can Kazakhstan’s China-backed financial hub boost belt and road funding?
- New stock exchange in Kazakh capital backed by Shanghai and Nasdaq exchanges and Goldman Sachs, among others
- But analysts unconvinced new financial hub can tap international investor money without greater transparency of project details
One of the primary goals of the Chinese-backed Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC), the newly established regional financial zone in Kazakhstan’s capital, is to boost funding for projects under Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative, its transcontinental infrastructure strategy, the governor of the zone said in an interview.
Although the new stock exchange set up in the economic zone is backed by a number of prominent global financial firms, questions remain over whether it can improve investment conditions – in particular the transparency of belt and road projects – to attract significant amounts of money from international investors.
The Shanghai Stock Exchange owns 25 per cent of AIFC’s Astana International Exchange (AIX), while the state-run Silk Road Fund owns 5 per cent of AIX’s shares. US investment bank Goldman Sachs and stock exchange Nasdaq also have stakes in the stock exchange in the Kazakhstan capital of Nur-Sultan, which began operations in November last year.
Kairat Kelimbetov, the former governor of the National Bank of Kazakhstan, who heads AIFC, said he believed AIFC and AIX would play a vital role in financing belt and road projects, which have been funded mostly by China’s state entities.
“We’d like to develop financial capabilities for the next generation of belt and road projects,” Kelimbetov said.