Tajikistan will raise public sector salaries by up to 25 percent effective September 1; the minimum wage will increase by 30 percent to the equivalent of about $141 per month.
Afghanistan's Herat Province is set to receive its first shipment of Turkmen natural gas via the TAPI pipeline within two months, marking Turkmenistan's first new market in a decade and a half.
Uzbekistan's inflation rate has fallen to 6.4%; Central Bank Governor Ishmetov believes an interest rate cut is still possible in 2026; and Goldman Sachs and BlackRock are reportedly advising on how to invest the country's record reserves of $77.1 billion.
The Eurasian Development Bank has 114 transportation projects in Central Asia totaling $71.7 billion, with $32.3 billion of that amount accounted for by Kazakhstan alone.
Remittances to Uzbekistan rose by 13% to $9.3 billion in the first half of the year: Russia's share fell to 72.4%, while remittances from the United Kingdom increased by 62%.
Russia's fuel shipments to Kyrgyzstan are stalling: Bishkek is negotiating with Sinopec, and the first tanker trucks from China have already arrived in the country.
Tajikistan's industrial output plummeted by nearly 38% in the first half of 2026, while exports rose by 65.3% to $1.6 billion, driven by gold and minerals.
Kazakhstan has set a firm launch date for its $10 billion "Data Center Valley" project: In June 2027, the first 50-megawatt data center will go online in Ekibastus; once fully operational, 100,000 AI chips are expected to generate $3 billion in export revenue annually.
Türkmengaz and Afghan Gas Sign a Memorandum of Understanding on Gas Purchases — 123 kilometers of the TAPI pipeline route toward Herat have already been laid.
Central Asia Column “Steppe Ahead” Author: Thorsten Gutmann The arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is not merely a Latin American event. It serves as a geopolitical seismograph whose tremors extend far…