In an interview with Egemen Qazaqstan, Rinat Gapparov, Chairman of the Management Board of Industrial Development Fund JSC, spoke about the systematic stimulation of GDP growth in the Republic through the planned state support of manufacturing, transport infrastructure, and logistics.
– Rinat Eduardovich, please tell us what specific forms of state support the Fund provides to domestic producers, and under what conditions…
– Established by presidential decree on May 11, 2020; to develop the industrial potential of the national economy, the Fund (IDF) operates primarily as a leasing financier of investment projects. It was created as a subsidiary of Development Bank of Kazakhstan and is part of Baiterek National Managing Holding.
As of Q1 2025, financial leasing accounts for 90.6% of the Fund’s portfolio. It is important to emphasize that the focus is on Kazakhstan-based manufacturers with genuine need for support.
The leasing beneficiary pool is broad — it includes domestic machine-building enterprises; producers of food products, apparel, household appliances, and construction materials; and other goods that contribute to increasing Kazakhstani content, boosting localization, and import substitution.
The Industrial Development Fund is the implementing body of Kazakhstan’s Manufacturing Development Concept for 2023–2029, under which financing was provided at interest rates ranging from 3% to 9%. Under Baiterek Holding’s new strategy, interest rates for new investment projects have been standardized. To ensure continued systemic support for domestic manufacturers and entrepreneurs in line with market conditions, the Fund established a unified annual remuneration rate of 12.6%.
Additionally, since 2024, within the framework of Kazakhstan’s transition to a green economy, the Fund, together with the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources and Zhasyl Damu organization, has been implementing a support program for enterprises engaged in sorting, processing, and recycling municipal solid waste (MSW). Under these projects, the financing rate is set at 3% per annum.
– To clarify: is the Fund's support aimed more at start-ups or at established manufacturers?
– The Fund’s financial support covers both the creation of new enterprises and the comprehensive modernization of existing operations in manufacturing and infrastructure sectors. Supported by the Fund, industrial facilities equipped with state-of-the-art high-tech machinery that meets the highest international standards have been commissioned.
Existing companies are also undergoing technical re-equipment by acquiring modern production lines, enabling the production of higher-value output. The Fund's corporate policy principles emphasize the economic effect and social orientation of projects — this means significantly increasing tax revenues, creating hundreds of jobs, generating new domestic goods, and building export potential.
Profit-making has never been the Fund’s goal — it pursues an entirely different mission: strengthening the country’s economic potential. In 2024 alone, the Fund channeled over KZT 778 billion in direct investments into the real sector of Kazakhstan’s economy and supported 318 industrial and infrastructure projects. Meanwhile, we have shown steady growth in financial and economic indicators. Over three years, the Fund’s investment portfolio has more than tripled — from KZT 642 billion at the beginning of 2022 to KZT 2 trillion in 2025.
Regarding major manufacturing projects, in 2022 the Fund supported 14 enterprises with KZT 129 billion. In 2023, it financed 27 projects totaling KZT 187 billion. In 2024, the number of new or modernized facilities supported by the Fund more than doubled to 61 enterprises, for a total of KZT 370.8 billion.
– Are there any unique “pilot” projects supported by the Fund?
– Certainly. Our portfolio includes cluster “pioneer” projects. Their implementation can transform any single-industry town into a diversified, multi-sector economy. For example, in Ekibastuz, with the Fund’s support, a comprehensive railway cluster was established for producing railway wheels, small and medium castings, and track structure components. This forge-bandage complex has an annual capacity of 160,900 units, and 800 new jobs were created.
This year, the city of Saran in Karaganda region has also been removed from the list of single-industry towns thanks to economic diversification efforts.
In Saran, the Fund’s support enabled the commissioning of several industrial enterprises, including a household appliance plant. Within a 7,000 m² area, high-tech production lines were launched to assemble seven types of household appliances: TVs, washing machines, kitchen stoves, vacuum cleaners, electric water heaters, mini ovens, and kitchen hoods. The plant’s annual capacity is one million units. Over 1,100 new jobs have been created under the project.
Another unique facility in Saran, launched with the Fund’s financing, is a factory producing passenger buses, quarry, construction, and road-specialized vehicles. Its annual output capacity is up to 1,500 intercity and city buses and up to 1,000 units of specialized machinery. Additionally, to increase localization and achieve a full production cycle, this plant is launching Kazakhstan’s first stamped body parts manufacturing this year.
One more truly unique project supported by the Fund is a tire plant in Saran — Kazakhstan’s first and only automotive tire manufacturing enterprise. The complex covers the full technological cycle: raw material preparation, rubber compound production, component manufacturing, tire assembly, vulcanization, and quality control. Its capacity is 3.5 million tires per year for passenger and commercial vehicles.
Thus, we are witnessing the emergence in the republic of entirely new, high-tech enterprises that meet international standards — ones that did not exist before.
Regarding modernization of existing facilities, here are a couple of examples. With the Fund’s support, the technical re-equipment of a domestic pipeline valves factory increased its output capacity tenfold — from 4,500 to 45,000 units per year. The enterprise's headcount also quadrupled.
After the modernization of an apparel factory in Almaty, output doubled to more than one million garments per year. 111 new jobs were created. Thus, each project delivers a multiplicative effect: scaling up production capacity, creating jobs, and increasing tax revenues.
– Rinat Eduardovich, the Fund is also known to support transport-logistics projects. Please tell us more…
– Indeed, the Fund actively supports the renewal of domestic machinery fleets. For instance, in 2024 alone, various agencies and organizations updated over 1,000 passenger buses used daily by millions of Kazakhstanis; 260 ambulances; and 158 fire-fighting vehicles. Additionally, 2,316 passenger and freight carriages and electric trains were modernized.
The Fund’s support of Kazakhstan’s machine-building sector is systematic, as these projects have strong social significance. Since its inception, the Fund has financed the acquisition of more than 30,500 units of domestic machinery for various agencies and organizations.
In the Presidential Address “Fair Kazakhstan: Law and Order, Economic Growth, Public Optimism”, emphasis was placed on the need to develop air hubs and aviation fleets. Accordingly, the Fund finances small aviation via leasing. Last year, with the Fund’s support, four small aircraft were acquired for the needs of the Ministry of Emergency Situations. In 2025, two have been delivered so far, with two more scheduled for later this year.
Additionally, three domestically produced helicopters were delivered under our support last year, intended for forest fire prevention and response.
– Summing up everything you've said, can we conclude that, alongside economic indicators, the Fund also places strong emphasis on the social impact of each project?
– I would say that the Industrial Development Fund follows a triad of goals in its policy — economic, social, and environmental. In essence, these three foundational pillars define the principles of our financial institution’s entire activity.
The economic component involves stimulating the growth of GDP and the national economy. The social aspect includes the creation of new jobs, renewal and expansion of the national machinery fleet. The environmental element means considering ecological standards when reviewing projects.
The effectiveness of the Fund’s policy is evidenced by the ESG rating of “2” with a total score of 63, assigned by the international rating agency Sustainable Fitch in 2024. This is one of the highest scores ever awarded to entities in the financial sector. As is well known, the ESG agenda primarily covers social and environmental factors.
Additionally, last year the international agency Moody’s upgraded the Fund’s credit rating from “Ba1” to “Baa3”, with a “positive” outlook.
Source: National newspaper Egemen Qazaqstan
