Gold and foreign exchange reserves of the National Bank of Kazakhstan decreased by 1.7% to $34.5 billion since the beginning of 2023. This happened against the backdrop of an outflow of STB (second-tier banks) funds from foreign currency accounts with the National Bank of Kazakhstan, according to a report at a government meeting on Wednesday, July 12, said Deputy Chairman of the National Bank Vitaly Tutushkin.
Gross international reserves of Kazakhstan at the end of June 2023 amounted to $94.3 billion, Tutushkin stressed. Since the beginning of the year, the assets of the National Fund have increased by 7.4%, to $59.8 billion. This was due to the growth of world indices.
Since the beginning of the year, $3.5 billion of foreign exchange assets have been sold from the National Fund to allocate transfers to the republican budget in the amount of 2.1 trillion tenge. The total revenues to the National Fund since the beginning of the year amounted to 2.6 trillion tenge.
Tutushkin also said that in June 2023, inflation in Kazakhstan reached 14.6% in annual terms and has been declining for the fourth month in a row.
The contribution of food inflation to this indicator is decreasing "against the background of a more pronounced seasonal factor." The National Bank of Kazakhstan expects inflation to slow down to 11-14% by the end of 2023.
The speaker noted that "the slowdown in inflation is beginning to create space for a gradual reduction in the base rate in the future." On July 5, the National Bank of Kazakhstan kept the base rate at 16.75% per annum.
At the same time, the national currency tenge strengthened to May levels and in the first half of 2023 it strengthened by 2.2%, to 452.26 tenge per dollar.
“The tenge was supported by sales of foreign currency to ensure transfers from the National Fund to the republican budget, as well as mandatory sales of foreign exchange earnings by subjects of the quasi-public sector in the amount of 50% in the amount of $1.9 billion.
Improving the balance of the foreign exchange market has reduced this share from 1 July 2023 from 50% to 30%,” the report says.
The level of dollarization of deposits decreased from 31.6% in December 2022 to 28.4% in May 2023. The influx of foreign investors into government securities of Kazakhstan has increased by 78 billion tenge since the beginning of the year. The National Bank did not conduct foreign exchange interventions.
CentralasianLIGHT.org
July 12, 2023