The OPEC Fund for International Development, a multilateral lender owned by OPEC member states, has directed more than $1.4 billion to development projects across Central Asia over the past 20 years, Kazakhstan’s first deputy minister of national economy, Azamat Amrin, told lawmakers this week.
The figure emerged during parliamentary debate on ratification of a framework agreement, signed in August 2024, that will allow the OPEC Fund to finance private-sector projects in Kazakhstan without sovereign guarantees for the first time.
The lower house of parliament, the Majilis, approved the accord on Tuesday, opening the door to loans at preferential rates of 2.5 to 5 percent, along with tax exemptions and currency-conversion protections for investors.
The OPEC Fund, founded in 1976 by oil-exporting countries to support development in the Global South, has committed more than $30 billion worldwide since inception, leveraging those funds into projects with a total value exceeding $200 billion across more than 125 countries. In 2024 alone, the institution posted a record $2.3 billion in new commitments, a 35 percent increase from the previous year.
While the fund does not publicly break out cumulative regional totals, the $1.4 billion figure for Central Asia — disclosed by the Kazakh government — aligns with the institution’s sharply increased activity in the region in recent years.
Since 2024, the OPEC Fund has signed new framework agreements or cooperation road maps with every Central Asian republic, shifting from almost exclusively public-sector lending to a model that also includes direct private-sector and non-sovereign operations.
Recent OPEC Fund Engagements in Central Asia
| Country | Key Development | Year/Period |
| Kazakhstan | Framework Agreement on Private Sector Operations (ratified) | Signed Aug 2024, ratified Dec 2025 |
| Kyrgyz Republic | Country Partnership Framework 2025–2028 + new loans for irrigation and water-sector modernization | 2025–2028 |
| Tajikistan | New sovereign loan agreement | 2024 |
| Turkmenistan | Cooperation Roadmap | 2024 |
| Uzbekistan | Framework agreement (first in the country) | 2024 |
The new agreements reflect a strategic push by the Vienna-based fund to deepen ties with resource-rich but infrastructure-hungry Central Asian states at a time when traditional multilateral lenders face budget constraints and private capital remains cautious.
Projects approved in the region in recent quarters have focused on climate-resilient agriculture, water management, transport connectivity and energy — priorities that match both the countries’ national development plans and the fund’s growing emphasis on the green transition and food security.
Kazakh officials said they expect the private-sector window to attract hundreds of millions of dollars in the coming years, particularly for renewable energy, agribusiness and transport logistics projects.
Similar non-sovereign frameworks recently concluded with Uzbekistan and planned expansions in the Kyrgyz Republic suggest the OPEC Fund’s annual commitments to Central Asia could rise significantly from current levels in the second half of the decade.
The accelerated engagement underscores how OPEC countries, led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, are using the fund to build economic bridges to the former Soviet republics at a time of shifting global alliances and increased competition for influence in Eurasia. /// nCa, December 2025