Kazakhstan to unify time zones across 1,900 miles

ALMATY (Reuters) - Consumers in Kazakhstan have received messages from banks, mobile telecommunications operators and other service providers warning of possible disruptions as most of the country prepares to switch to a different time zone from March 1.

In order to unify time across the country the size of Western Europe, most of Kazakhstan's regions will move their clocks back by one hour at midnight on Thursday, putting the whole country in the UTC+5 time zone.

Until now, only the country's western provinces were in that time zone, while others, including main cities Astana and Almaty, were an hour ahead. Kazakhstan, which borders Russia and China, stretches 3,000 kilometres (about 1,900 miles) from east to west.

Kazakhstan's backbone oil industry is concentrated in its west and is therefore unlikely to suffer from any disruptions.

(Reporting by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Jan Harvey)