In Kazakhstan, the total amount of transactions in Russian federal loan bonds (OFZ) for the period from March to December 1, 2022 amounted to 641.1 billion tenge ($1.4 billion). Kazakhstani players on the stock exchange made 48.7% of all OFZ purchases. In second place are Russian brokers with 41.4%, the portal Ia-centr.ru reports.
According to the Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market of Kazakhstan, in total, 6 Kazakhstani brokerage houses were engaged in transactions with Russian state debt. The regulator stressed that all OFZ buyers took into account the current sanctions.
Nevertheless, at the end of December 2022, Bloomberg sources reported on the discounts that Kazakh brokers receive from investors who cannot leave the Russian market due to anti-Russian sanctions. Bloomberg also noted that the presence of Russians among the largest OFZ buyers "confirms the ability of investors to withdraw capital from the country and use cracks in the sanctions regime."
CentralasianLIGHT.org
January 16, 2023