Retail demand for gold in Kazakhstan nearly halves in 2025

ALMATY. Feb 12 (Interfax) - Kazakhstan's banks and exchange offices sold 27,807 gold bars with a total weight of 889.5 tonnes to members of the public in 2025, a decrease of 47% compared with 2024 when residents bought 47,395 gold bars weighing 1.7 tonnes, the National Bank said in a Thursday press release.

Gold is sold in 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100-gram bars.

Since the launch of the program in May 2017, the second-tier banks and the exchange offices have sold 263,479 gold bars with a total weight of 9 tonnes.

The most popular gold bars among individual buyers are 10-gram bars making up 26% of total sales or 67,833 bars sold since the launch of the program. These are followed by 5 gram bars - 57,847 bars sold or 22%; 100 gram bars - 53,289 bars or 20%; 20 gram bars - 49,154 bars or 19%; and 50 gram bars - 35,356 bars or 13%, according to the press release.

Gold bars are the most in demand in the cities of Almaty (20,526 bars or 74%), Astana (1,650 bars of 6%) and Shymkent (1,099 bars or 4%).