AKIPRESS.COM - Kazakhstan will privatise its flag carrier Air Astana, state oil and gas company KazMunayGas and state nuclear firm Kazatomprom by 2019 at the latest, the country's Finance Minister Bakhyt Sultanov said on Wednesday.

Stakes in the three companies will be sold through initial public offerings, Sultanov told Reuters on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in Cyprus.

Central Asia's biggest economy has sold more than 120 small and mid-sized firms in its privatisation drive, and has been preparing larger firms for sale.