The price of gold in Kazakhstan showed positive dynamics during January 2023 and reached a nine-month high in early February. According to the results of January, the price of gold rose by 5% - from 1812 to 1905 dollars per ounce, said Aliya Moldabekova, Deputy Chairman of the National Bank of Kazakhstan, Zakon.kz reports.
Quotations were supported by expectations about the imminent completion of the Fed's rate hike cycle, she added.
"Due to the growth in the price of gold, as well as the inflow of funds to the foreign exchange accounts of the Ministry of Finance and correspondent accounts of clients, gold and foreign exchange reserves increased from $35.1 to $36.7 billion in January," Moldabekova said.
Maintaining a high level of liquidity of the gold and foreign exchange reserves of the National Bank of Kazakhstan is very important: work continues to sell gold on the foreign market for dollars, thereby increasing the foreign exchange part of the reserves and investing it in highly liquid money market instruments.
"In 2022, in order to diversify and balance the allocation of gold and foreign exchange assets, the National Bank of Kazakhstan carried out a gradual sale of gold with a total volume of about 120 tons in foreign markets. At the same time, in order to hedge the risk of price changes, part of the gold was sold using derivative financial instruments through the sale of call options and futures for gold. The total profit from operations with derivative financial instruments amounted to $191 million," Moldabekova said.
CentralasianLIGHT.org
February 9, 2023