The government had initially tried to calm protesters by conceding a reduction in the price of liquefied natural gas
(LNG), setting it at 50 tenge (€0.1) per litre, compared with 120 at the start of the year — a significant increase in
a country where the minimum wage is 42,500 tenge (€98.7) a month.
Surprising. Ukraine, where I'm from, has a minimum wage of €200 despite being resource-poor and simply poor-poor, if you go by relatively objective measures like GDP per capita with PPP. But oil-rich Kazakhstan seems to really keep their hoi polloi on a lean diet.
Oil (and generally resource rich countries) have a tough line to thread between spreading the riches among the population without making the said population dependent on that sharing ( e.g. Venezuela) and hoarding at the top. Most fail miserably, and honestly the only one i can think of doing a great job is Norway, and it was mostly by accident.