National Bank says where digital tenge will become mandatory

According to the head of the National Bank, the digitalization of Kazakhstan’s financial sector is continuing at an active pace.

“The country’s payment turnover over the first five months of 2026 amounted to 677 trillion tenge, with more than 90 percent of payments processed by the National Bank’s payment systems,” Suleimenov said today at a government meeting.

He noted that Kazakhstan has created a national digital financial infrastructure. The use of the digital tenge is also continuing to expand.

“Together with the Ministry of Finance, we have regulated the mandatory use of the digital tenge for a number of types of government expenditures, such as the procurement of medical equipment, vehicles, fuels and lubricants, and others,” the head of the National Bank said.

Timur Suleimenov said the digital tenge will also be used in road construction and the modernization of energy infrastructure, the provision of budget loans, support for small and medium-sized businesses, and tax administration.

Digital tenge in Kazakhstan

The digital tenge is described as the third form of the national currency, alongside cash and non-cash money. Earlier, we explained in detail that the digital tenge exists in the form of tokens — digital equivalents of cash tenge — and that one of its features is the ability to “program” payments.

Earlier, the Prime Minister instructed officials to accelerate the introduction of the digital tenge in more than 100 major projects. At the time, it was noted that the key advantages of the digital tenge are programmability and labeling, which make it possible to track the movement of funds and prevent their misuse.

The issue of using the digital tenge has also been raised in the road sector. In January last year, it was reported that 1,200 corruption loopholes had been identified in the road sector, and that digitalization of processes should make it possible to track the movement of budget funds on the Digital Tenge platform with the participation of the National Bank and the Ministry of Finance.