ASTANA – Chairperson of National Bank Daniyar Akishev announced May 31 that Kazakh citizens can buy gold bars weighing 10, 20, 50 and 100 grams. The price starts from 126,000 tenge (US$403). The most expensive 100-gram bar will cost 1.26 million tenge (US$4,032).
Photo credit: Golden-inform.ru
“Our main idea is to launch a liquid and active market. The gold ingots can be quickly purchased and sold. Banks will be obliged to buy these bars from citizens on demand without any restrictions,” Akishev said.
In the future, the National Bank plans to allow the purchase and sale of gold bars through the exchange offices of non-bank legal entities after corresponding legislation will be amended.
The chairperson highlighted that the first person to buy the bars was Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev. The President has bought all four types of gold ingots.
Akishev explained prices depend on the situation on world exchanges. He also said that the ingots are specially produced and measured in grams, not in ounces, because Kazakhstan citizens are used for this type of measure.
According to him, the first participants of the project are Halyk Bank and Eurasian Bank. Gold ingots can be bought in Astana, Almaty, Ust-Kamenogorsk and Atyrau. In the future, the geography of gold ingots sales will be expanded, as well as the number of participating banks.
The gold bars are produced in a special vacuum package.
Akishev explained it is necessary to keep the integrity of the package to avoid any examinations.
Approximate prices for gold ingots are as follows:
10 grams – 126,000 tenge, (US$403).
20 grams – 254,000 tenge, (US$813).
50 grams – 635,000 tenge, (US$2,032).
100 grams – 1.26 million tenge, (US$4,032).
“The gold bars are 100 percent made in Kazakhstan. The National Bank guarantees the high quality of gold ingots with a breakdown of four nines. As the programme is being implemented and popularised, we are ready to produce ingots with a larger mass in case of need,” Akishev said.
A gold bar is a quantity of refined metallic gold which is produced according to special standards. They have special labelling. Small bars are usually manufactured by minting or stamping from appropriately rolled gold sheets.
