In the last decade, ICT has significantly impacted economic growth in many developing countries, such as Kazakhstan. In addition, there is practically no analysis of the level of interconnections between the communication infrastructure and economic growth in the regional context. This article will consider the impact on GRP per capita of the following ICT factors: volume of communication services, number of fixed telephone lines, enterprises using computers, enterprises using the Internet, internal costs for R&D by regions, the number of organizations that have created and use new technologies and equipment. The data for the article were collected over ten years, from 2010 to 2020 as part of the dynamic panel data approach, which includes 14 regions and two cities. The initial data were taken from the statistical data of the Bureau of National Statistics of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The methodology used in the article includes the study of the proposed indicators and conducting correlation and regression analysis in the STATA program. The conclusions presented in our work showed that the ICT infrastructure has a significant positive impact on regional development, and the coefficient of elasticity of the ICT infrastructure to regional development is greater than the coefficient of elasticity of the degree of integration. The government can use the results of this study to develop programs to improve regional development.

This research focuses on an analytical review of the scientific literature to select appropriate methods and evaluate the impact of financial technologies on economic growth. Since non-cash payments can be affected by various factors, there is a great variety of studies relating to them in the scientific literature. However, existing scientific papers reflecting on the economic growth and non-cash payments do not determine the cause-effect relationship trends in different periods. Current study intends to fill this gap. Using an original method based on correlation analysis, the relationship of indicators in different periods is calculated with the use of the SPSS software. The data is collected for period of 2004-2019, during which the reviewed countries were actively developing and increasing their financial and technological capacities. Analysis results largely indicate an increase in the number of bank branches in many of the reviewed countries. Further, we consider the correlation between economic growth (expressed by indicators such as GDP), financial technologies (number of ATMs, user access to internet, and number of users of mobile communications) and gender indicators. The conclusions show a correlation between economic growth and financial technologies.

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the development of FinTech and the transition to cashless payments of the population of various countries, including Kazakhstan. For provision of cashless payments there are created platforms which work in NFC & MFS systems, they protected by security protocols (Secure Element (SE)) and allow to store confidential user data. Changes in the business model of banks have led to the emergence of a new format of banking products and services that can be used through smartphones (the main operating systems Android and iOS). The goal of the study is to analyze the dynamics of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the use of cashless payments through national payment systems in Kazakhstan. Based on the goal, a null and an alternative hypothesis were set, of which the second was confirmed in the result. Research methods used to write this article are economic and statistical analysis and synthesis, graphical method, analysis of the series of dynamics. The data for the study was taken from the NBK Statistical Bulletin: data on cashless payments through the Interbank System of Money Transfer (ISMT) and the Interbank Clearing System (ICS) for the period from 2002 to 2020. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the dynamics of the transformation of cashless payments made by using financial technologies has been proved. Recommendations for further improvement of the financial system are given. The development of national payment systems makes it possible to reduce the level of fraud in the financial sector, to increase the speed of cashless transfers and level out transaction errors. Study limitation: only national payment systems ISMT and ICS were used.

The aim of the study is to analyze and forecast the use of payment cards for making non-cash payments through national payment systems in Kazakhstan. Based on this goal, a hypothesis was put forward that in Kazakhstan, there is a relationship between the number of payment cards and the volume of non-cash payments. This hypothesis was confirmed because of the study. The information base of the study was the data on payment cards, which were taken from the Statistical Bulletin of the National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Hypothesis testing was carried out using correlation analysis for three periods: 2009, 2016, 2020. The method of finding Pearson’s correlation in the SPSS program was used. The results showed a downward change in the relationship between the selected indicators and the amount of funds transferred over time. Also, in this study, a forecast was made for 2021-2023 for the indicators under consideration. To make a forecast for the indicators under consideration, a graphical method (polynomial trend line) was used. The resulting forecast shows the growth of cardholders and, consequently, the spread of the number of payment cards among the population in 2021-2023. The practical significance of this study is that the proposed methodology can help predict the dynamics of payment cards in any country in the world. Recommendations are also given for further improving the financial system, since increasing the transparency of monetary circulation in small-and-medium sized businesses will lead to a positive result in the implementation of the program for universal declaration of income in 2025.