National Bank: Situation in Kazakhstan's foreign exchange market remains stable

By  Trend

The situation in the foreign exchange market of Kazakhstan remains stable: the tenge exchange rate strengthened by 1.2 percent from the beginning of the year to April 2, said the Chairman of the National Bank of Kazakhstan Yerbolat Dossayev, Trend reports via Kazakh media.

"The exchange rate is formed depending on the situation with the country's balance of payments, that is, under the influence of the balance of inflows and outflows of foreign currency into the country's market. This allows to minimize external shocks and maintain the competitiveness of our economy," he said in the parliament.

The National Bank Chairman noted that last year there was a significant improvement in the current account of the balance of payments: the deficit was $0.1 billion compared to $5.1 billion in 2017.

"The policy of floating exchange rate of tenge allows to save gold and foreign exchange reserves. As of March 1, gold and currency reserves of the National Bank amounted to $29.2 billion, and the assets of Kazakhstan National Fund – to $59 billion. Total international reserves amounted to $88.2 billion," said Dossayev.

He also noted that the National Bank will continue the policy of inflation targeting.

"The main goal of the National Bank for 2019 is to keep inflation in the band of 4-6 percent. Annual inflation in March 2019 decreased to 4.8 percent compared to 5.3 percent at the end of last year," the National Bank Chairman said.