Economics
Billions in Bailouts Still Can’t Heal Kazakhstan’s ‘Sick’ Banks
- President criticizes lenders as central bank prepares reviews
- Oldest Kazakh private bank probed over loan allegations
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After a decade of efforts and $18 billion in state bailouts, Kazakhstan’s banking sector is still in a mess. Just ask the country’s president.
“The financial system is sick,” President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev told a government meeting last month as he railed against declines in business lending and an increase in loans to consumers with little chance of repaying the money. “The role of the banking sector in the development of the economy is declining every year.”