In 2025, the net outflow of foreign direct investment from Kazakhstan's extractive sector reached $7.5 billion, a 4.1-fold increase from the previous year, according to infohub.kz.
This trend is attributed to the completion of major investment projects in the oil industry and investors shifting to repatriating profits. The largest decline among financial instruments was in reinvestment of earnings.
As a result, Kazakhstan became the only EAEU country with a negative foreign direct investment flow: the net indicator stood at minus $916.4 million. This means foreign investors withdrew more funds from the country than they invested during the same period. In contrast, over the previous three years, Kazakhstan maintained positive figures, and in 2023 it even ranked first in the EAEU for attracting investments, with $5.7 billion.
A significant impact on the overall dynamics came from reduced investments from non-EAEU countries. While in 2022 the FDI inflow from these states was $4.6 billion, by the end of 2025 it had dropped to minus $1.4 billion. The largest outflow came from US investors, who withdrew $4.2 billion of previously invested funds. Another $2 billion was attributed to investors from Bermuda.
At the same time, capital from some countries continued to flow into Kazakhstan. Investments from Singapore doubled to $1.4 billion, and from Qatar increased eightfold to $1.3 billion.
Investments from other EAEU member states also decreased. In 2025, their volume amounted to $453.4 million, 3.7 times less than the previous year. The main reason was a 4.4-fold reduction in investments from Russia: from $1.7 billion to $395.7 million. Despite this, Russia remains the largest source of investment in Kazakhstan within the EAEU, accounting for 87.3% of the union's investments in 2025.
Amid the massive capital outflow from the extractive sector, some economic sectors showed the opposite trend. The financial and insurance activities attracted $2.7 billion in foreign direct investment, nearly ten times more than the previous year. In the information and communication sector, the figure grew 4.4 times to $1.2 billion. Meanwhile, FDI in manufacturing decreased by 39.2%, and in scientific research and development by 24.7%. In construction, a net outflow of $468.9 million was recorded.
Earlier, it was reported that Kazakhstan could have missed out on $700 million in a month due to attacks on the CPC. Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan were the only EAEU countries where the number of banks increased.