Central Asia in April 2026: the most important developments in economy
In Central Asia in April 2026, oil dominated the economic news, above all Kazakhstan's. Asian buyers looked to the region for supplies amid volatility in global markets. South Korea sent an envoy to Kazakhstan, Oman and Saudi Arabia to secure oil, and on April 12 a minister said Seoul was close to securing supplies from Kazakhstan. China turned to Central Asia to reduce its exposure to Middle East oil supply risk, with increased imports from Kazakhstan and other regional producers, although export constraints limited what Kazakhstan could supply.
On the westward route, Kazakhstan said on April 22 it had been informally notified that oil transit through the Druzhba pipeline may stop, and Russia confirmed it would halt Kazakh oil supplies to Germany via the pipeline. By April 28 Kazakhstan had redirected 260,000 tons of oil to Germany via Russia by another export route.
Nuclear and energy projects drew partners from several countries. Kazakhstan plans to build a power plant without a Russian partner, while China's CNNC may build a nuclear plant there. Uzbekistan and Belarus agreed to deepen nuclear cooperation, Rosatom widened its partnership with Uzbekistan to health and food technology, and the world's sixth-largest uranium miner began new output in Uzbekistan. Astana launched a $180 million waste-to-energy ecopark with a Chinese company.
Other items included the World Bank and IMF flagging an economic slowdown across Central Asia and the Caucasus on April 17. Pakistan sent its first shipment to Uzbekistan through a new transit corridor via Iran. Tencent bought a stake in Kazakh fintech Kaspi.kz, Kazakhstan announced launch dates for two new airports, and the dollar fell below 460 tenge.
by WorldBrief & Maksim Micheliov | AI-generated summary
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