Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Kazakhstan on July 3, 2024. The Chinese government announced that the country supports Kazakhstan's accession to BRICS, and Xi published an article in a Kazakh newspaper.
The National Bank of Kazakhstan and the People's Bank of China signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the field of digital currency. It was one of 31 agreements concluded between the countries.
China signed a similar agreement with the UAE last October and used the digital yuan to settle a crude oil deal that same month. The UAE is also a founding member of mBridge, a cross-border central bank digital currency for which China has developed the technology. The UAE was also the first to conduct a transaction on mBridge, making a 50 million dirham ($13.6 million) payment to China in January.
The National Bank of Kazakhstan is not a participant in mBridge, but acts as an observer in the project, along with 22 other central banks. The country is working on creating a CBDC*, with plans to launch next year. Last year’s status report on the project said the initial focus was on retail CBDCs for consumer transactions with a clear issuance scheme. However, the report said it was now exploring the possibility of using a CBDC in wholesale trade for interbank settlements and cross-border payments.
*A central bank digital currency (CBDC) is money that can be issued by a country's central bank. It is called digital (or electronic) because it is not physical money like banknotes and coins. It is represented as a sum of money on a computer or other similar device.
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