Why come to Kazakhstan?

Russia may have set the bar pretty high, but Kazakhstan still has to be one of the most extraordinarily business-unfriendly places on the planet. A visit to this vast Central Asian state is like a modern reworking of Malcolm Bradbury’s satire Why Come to Slaka?, which catalogued the dubious attractions of a fictional East European state in the Cold War.

On the surface, this giant, underpopulated nation is doing remarkably well. From being virtually bankrupt a decade ago, the two main cities — Almaty in the south, and the northerly capital of Astana — now brim with confidence and cash. Mercedes and Bentleys jostle for road space with Ladas and Moskvitches; octogenarian babushkas take out loans with HSBC and Citibank to refurbish their plush inner-city apartments. On the road north from Almaty to Shymbulak and Medeo — the beautiful venues for the 2011 Asian Winter Games — sits a surreal collection of millionaire houses, each boasting at least one Mercedes (for the owner’s wife) and one Lada (for her decorator).