ALMATY (Reuters) - Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev on Tuesday appointed his aide Alikhan Smailov as finance minister, continuing a broader government reshuffle.

Smailov, 45, had earlier worked as deputy finance minister of the oil-rich Central Asian nation, deputy foreign minister and head of the state statistics committee.

He replaced Bakhyt Sultanov, who this month became mayor of Astana, the capital city, after running the Finance Ministry for almost five years.

Nazarbayev also replaced his veteran chief of staff this month.