A wave of strikes last year showed rising dissatisfaction when this steady growth faltered, with the surge in fuel prices tipping protestors over the edge.

“What is of greater concern to the authorities is that they will evolve to into a stage for putting forth more political demands,” she says.

Edward Lemon, president of the Oxus Society for Central Asian Affairs and Research, says discontent is built on resentment at corruption and inequality that has grown in recent decades.

“We have seen, over the past almost two years, an explosion in protests in the country,” he says, since the transition of presidential power from Nazarbayev to Tokayev.

“Energy prices were the trigger for this [latest protest] but this is really about larger grievances related to social inequality, related to a government that has been unable to provide enough welfare to its people, related to corruption.”

John Heathershaw, professor of international relations at the University of Exeter, has studied the movement of capital from Kazakhstan into countries such as the UK.

He expects “anger against corruption” to continue as protests have already spread far more widely this time around than ever before.

“It has encompassed all of these issues like the concentration of wealth in the hands of the elite, resentment against the Nazarbayev family and their associates, a sense that pensions and welfare benefits, although they are higher than many other countries in the region, are nowhere near adequate given the wealth the country has,” he says.

Where else could it happen?

Energy prices are rising globally and Kazakhstan is not the only nation grappling with surging costs in recent months.

Spain is subsidising energy bills following mass protests against increases. Drivers railed against a jump in fuel costs in Turkey. 

In central Asia, Kyrgyzstan is considered particularly vulnerable to protests, with Governments ejected in 2005, 2010 and 2020.

“We might see some discontent” in the nation, says Bikarski, which “has been historically notorious for the risk of escalations and political instability”.

But dangers are not limited to the most extreme events of revolution.

Timothy Ash at BlueBay Asset Management says that emerging markets across the globe are particularly vulnerable to rising food and energy prices, but are at least taking the problem seriously, stepping in with higher interest rates to rein in inflation.

“Developed markets’ central banks don’t seem to get it. They are very focused on underpinning growth and so keeping policy very loose,” he says.

“But inflation is a killer. Now there is a need for tighter monetary policy, because populations care about inflation much more than growth.”