Kazakhstan talks imbalanced introduction of cashless payments

By Trend

Imbalances in the issue of introducing non-cash payments in Kazakhstan remain between regions and in rural-urban relations, the country’s National Bank (NBK) told Trend.

According to the bank, the imbalances remain despite the fact that the volume of non-cash transactions in the country has notably grown in recent years, and the share of non-cash payments amounted to 83 percent in 2021.

"The introduction of digital tenge into circulation is expected to strengthen the positive dynamics in the transition to cashless payments and stabilize the imbalances due to the possibility of offline transactions," the NBK noted. "Besides, this will allow the market participants to get access to a greater number of potential customers, who previously were hard to reach in these terms due to geographical, technical, cultural, and behavioral restrictions and characteristics, for their further integration into the participants' own ecosystems."

"The introduction of the digital tenge will accelerate innovation not only in the banking sector but also among fintech companies. The new form of the national currency will give the market a unique tool which will allow creating more convenient and technologically less capital-intensive modern financial services," the bank noted.

"In particular, the development of completely new fintech products based on the advantages of "digital cash" using smart contract technology will become available to the market participants," concluded the bank.