Astana and Almaty improve rankings in Global Financial Centres Index

Almaty also advanced, climbing seven lines to reach 92nd place.

The latest GFCI edition assessed 139 financial centres worldwide. Of these, 117 were included in the main index, while 22 are close to meeting the criteria for inclusion.

As in the previous edition, New York retained the first place, maintaining a four-point lead over London. Hong Kong and Singapore stand behind London by one and two points respectively.

Zurich entered the Top-10, replacing San Francisco. Abu Dhabi, Beijing, and Osaka joined the Top-20, displacing Paris, Amsterdam, and Frankfurt.

Overall, most centres showed improvement, with the average rating across all centres rising by 0.8%.

The steepest decline was recorded in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, where the average fell by 1.09%. The Asia-Pacific region saw the strongest growth, with an increase of 1.48%.

In total, 58 centres improved their positions, nine remained unchanged, and 49 dropped lower. Eleven centres fell by 10 or more positions, while 16 rose by 10 or more.

The most notable gains were seen in Copenhagen (+19), Ho Chi Minh City (+17), Oslo and Mexico City (+16 each), as well as Riyadh and Munich (+15 each).

Astana first entered the GFCI in March 2018, and its status as the regional leader was consolidated in March 2023.

Earlier, it was reported that Kazakhstan ranked 38th out of 70 countries in the IMD World Competitiveness Ranking.