Kazakhstan plans to introduce a social wallet. However, the system will first be tested in a pilot mode. A number of agencies such as the Ministry of Trade and Integration, the Ministry of Digital Development, the National Bank and the Ministry of Labor are now actively working over this project. According to experts, such an electronic wallet will have a number of advantages. Kazakh residents will no longer need to open bank accounts and stand in queues. The funds will be directly, based on a citizen’s Individual Identification Number, transferred to the social electronic wallet. Such a system will make it possible to directly purchase socially significant goods from domestic producers and also pay for public utilities, experts say. Recipients of targeted social assistance will be first to be transferred to electronic wallets.
“A recipient of social payments will be able to cash out these funds or transfer electronic money to a bank card. We plan to introduce the pilot project by the end of this year, and also, to integrate it with the commodity distribution system, which will allow us to use the funds allocated from the state budget to support domestic producers,” said Aliya Rzayeva, spokesperson of Kazakh Ministry of Trade and Integration.
