ASTANA, Kazakhstan, July 11. The government of Kazakhstan has reviewed the issue of the implementation and effectiveness of the digital tenge (KZT), Trend reports via the press service of Kazakhstan’s prime minister.
As articulated by the Chairman of the National Bank of Kazakhstan, Timur Suleimenov, a total of 257.5 billion digital tenges (KZT), amounting to approximately $496.8 million, have been successfully injected into the monetary ecosystem to date.
Furthermore, the platform is presently undergoing pilot industrial operations, with a comprehensive rollout scheduled for December of this fiscal year.
The digital tenge has undergone extensive trials across over ten distinct domains. Specifically, the implementation of the digital VAT framework has streamlined the tax refund cycle, compressing the turnaround time from a protracted 75 days to an expedited 5 working days.
“The allocation of capital for infrastructural remediation has been evaluated in initiatives such as 'Pavlodar-Atyrau' and 'Mukur-Kulsary.' The digital tenge (KZT) serves as a mechanism for the oversight of fund allocation in initiatives underpinned by the National Fund, encompassing the development of the 'Dostyk-Moyinty' railway segment and the 'Taldykorgan-Usharal' gas conduit," the government reported.
The implementation of digital tenge is also being explored in other areas, including:
Real estate and automobile transactions;
School meals;
Purchases of expensive goods;
Government lending tools in the agricultural sector.
In the course of the meeting, Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov
emphasized the key advantages of digital tenge (KZT), such as
programmability and marking, which allow tracking the movement of
funds and preventing misuse.
“Digital tenge (KZT) will ensure full transparency and systematic
control over the targeted use of budget funds. To effectively scale
the marking of money, timely integration of information systems
with the 'Digital Tenge' (KZT) platform must be ensured. It is also
necessary to develop the corresponding legal framework. The
implementation of the 'colored money' mechanism must be done in a
high-quality and full-scale manner,” said Bektenov.
He also instructed that, in the near future, at least one
hundred major projects financed by the National Fund and the state
budget be transferred to the digital tenge (KZT) format.
The Digital Tenge is Kazakhstan's central bank digital currency
(CBDC), launched by the National Bank of Kazakhstan as part of its
financial innovation strategy. It is a digital version of the
national currency, the tenge, designed to complement cash and
non-cash payment systems while enhancing efficiency. The digital
currency aims to improve financial inclusion, reduce transaction
costs, and enhance payment security
