President Tokayev is eager to bring the shadow economy into the open as part of a rapid growth strategy. After Kurmet, a hairdresser in Kazakhstan’s business capital, Almaty, finished a cut earlier this month, the customer reached for his phone to pay.
This has been a standard scene for years. Kazakhs young and old have embraced banking apps with a passion. But things are changing. Kurmet had to say no on this occasion.
“Sorry, brother, only cash, you understand, now it’s like that everywhere,” Kurmet told the client, a regular at his salon.
The customer had to go out to the nearest ATM to pick up some cash to pay.
“This is my fifth client today who has had to go out scrambling for cash,” Kurmet, who asked that his surname not be used in this article, said in an interview with Eurasianet. “Me and a lot of others have stopped accepting mobile transfers. That’s why we have so many inconveniences – we’ve all got so used to being without cash.”