ASTANA – The National Bank of Kazakhstan (NBK) is expected to sell between $1.3 to $1.4 billion in currency from the National Fund this October, based on preliminary government requests for national budget transfers, reported The Tenge.
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Nearly three-quarters of this amount will be directed to the Unified Accumulative Pension Fund (UAPF) to mitigate its impact on the exchange rate.
In September, the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange saw an increase in average daily trading volumes, from $210 million to $222 million monthly, with a total volume of $4.7 billion. A fifth of this volume was attributed to currency sales from the National Fund.
Between $240 to $260 million will be sold from gold and foreign exchange reserves linked to the National Fund’s shares in Kazatomprom National Atomic Company. Altogether, more than $1.6 billion will be converted this month, the highest figure since October 2023.
To maintain the foreign currency share of UAPF pension assets, the NBK plans to purchase $850 to $950 million in October, following its acquisition of $500 million in September.
Meanwhile, the NBK’s Monetary Policy Committee decided on Oct. 11 to keep the base rate at 14.25%. September’s annual inflation saw a slight decrease to 8.3%, primarily due to lower food prices. However, financial market experts project inflation to reach 8.4% by year-end, slightly up from earlier estimates of 8%.
