Nazarbayev economic plan: Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev plans to channel $3bn each year for the next three years from the country’s National Oil Fund into the country’s education, utilities and SME sectors. Nazarbayev usually publicises his economic intentions at the turn of the year, but has bought this forward due to the “ongoing geopolitical crisis and sanction politics of the world powers.” $386m is to go towards the repair of the country’s secondary schools; $110m to increase the number of kindergartens; $1.1bn towards the modernisation of the utilities infrastructure each year; and $552m to low-interest loans to both SMEs and larger enterprises. Times of Central Asia