In August 2026, 27.9 billion tenge was sent abroad from Kazakhstan through international money transfer systems (IMTS) — exactly half the 56.4 billion tenge recorded a month earlier. The data comes from the National Bank of Kazakhstan, as reported by infohub.kz.
According to the channel's calculations, adjusted for inflation, the August figure was the lowest since at least January 2016. Another telling detail: since August, Zolotaya Korona, which previously accounted for the bulk of IMTS transfers, no longer appears in the National Bank's statistics among systems used for cross-border transfers.
The Russian route played a key role in the decline in outbound remittances. Over the month, the volume of funds sent to Russia fell 14.3-fold, to 1.2 billion tenge.
Uzbekistan also significantly affected the overall trend: transfers to that country dropped 39% compared with July, to 12.3 billion tenge. Remittances to Kyrgyzstan plunged 75%, to 0.7 billion tenge, while those to Turkey fell 21%, to 4.6 billion tenge.
Inbound flows also declined. In August, 12.2 billion tenge entered Kazakhstan through IMTS — 24% less than a month earlier. According to the channel, this is the lowest since at least January 2016, even without adjusting for inflation.
Russia was the main contributor to the drop in inbound remittances: the volume of funds received from there collapsed 11.9-fold, to 0.2 billion tenge.
The channel's authors attribute the sharp decline to the European Union's 21st sanctions package against Russia, imposed on July 24, 2026. The restrictions targeted the nonprofit Mobile Card and the non-bank credit organization Payment Center, the operator and settlement center of Zolotaya Korona.
Earlier, Kursiv reported that in July 2026, outbound IMTS transfers fell 20% year on year, while inbound transfers dropped 25.1%. Zolotaya Korona's share of funds sent from Kazakhstan decreased from 86.7% to 77.9%, while Western Union's share rose from 9.3% to 17.7%.