The importance of the so-called natural monopolies in Kazakhstan can be seen in the fact that some of Kazakhstan’s largest and most powerful corporate empires, such as the KEGOC (national transmission grid operator) and KTZ (national railway company), are officially subject to natural monopoly regulation. The obvious lack of transparency in the tariff-setting of natural monopolies is one of the most important and long-standing problems in Kazakhstan. There is no doubt that the ever-growing corruption and inefficient management in the natural monopolies inevitably lead to an increase of tariffs for practically all services provided by monopolists, a distrust of potential investors and even social unrest among the population of Kazakhstan.
This article was first published in Islamic Finance news Volume 15 Issue 46 dated 14th November 2018.
