Kazakhstan set to roll out digital tenge in gov procurement

According to the Government, technical integration with the Finance Ministry's information systems will be completed in August, enabling a full transition to the digital tenge in state procurement.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Economy Serik Zhumangarin chaired a government meeting to review preliminary results of the digital tenge pilot projects and discuss implementation challenges.

"According to the Finance Ministry, the legal status of the digital tenge platform and its operating procedures have now been established. 340 billion digital tenge have been issued. Twenty pilot projects have already been completed using the digital currency, another 10 are in progress, and 50 more are in the works. The pilots cover infrastructure construction, budget lending and subsidies, grant funding, government support measures, procurement, tax administration, as well as purchases by the National Bank and quasi-government entities. The digital tenge is mandatory for eight categories of budget expenditure on projects costing over 100 million tenge," the Government said.

Starting in August, the digital tenge is set to be used in government procurement of goods, medicines, fuel and lubricants, and other materials.

It is noted that the government meeting also focused on challenges hindering further scaling. One key issue is ensuring end-to-end traceability of budget funds – from the general contractor down to the end executor. In practice, subcontractors are often reluctant to sign smart contracts for the use of digital tenge, as current legislation does not require them to do so. To remove this barrier, the Finance Ministry has drafted a package of amendments to relevant legal acts to create the necessary legal framework. - Tokayev

As written earlier, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev stated at the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai that Kazakhstan can become a hub for technological cooperation and digital trade.