BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 10. Kazakhstan’s
international reserves, including foreign-currency assets of the
National Fund, increased by $9.4 billion to $138.8 billion at the
beginning of September, the Kazakhstan Association of Financiers
(AFK) said.


According to the association, the increase was driven by growth
in the gross international reserves of the National Bank of
Kazakhstan and the assets of the National Fund.


The weighted average USD/KZT exchange rate at Wednesday’s
trading session was 456.61 tenge per US dollar, up 2.22 tenge, with
trading volume increasing by $419.6 million to $796 million.


“Such dynamics could be related to the needs of Kazakh companies
to make payments under import contracts, as well as to repay and
service existing external liabilities. Further growth in the US
dollar exchange rate could be limited by increased foreign currency
sales as part of the National Bank’s operations and persistently
high real interest rates, which support the attractiveness of
tenge-denominated instruments for local and foreign investors,” the
AFK said.


AFK noted that the National Bank’s gross international reserves
increased by 11.4% in July to $70.6 billion.







The increase was driven by a rise in the gold portfolio to $55.8
billion, up 15.8%, which offset a 2.5% decline in foreign-currency
assets to $14.8 billion. The latter include funds of second-tier
banks held in accounts and deposits with the National Bank.
Meanwhile, the National Fund’s assets increased by 3.2% to $68.2
billion.


“Overall, the country’s international reserves, including the
National Fund’s foreign-currency assets, amounted to $138.8 billion
at the beginning of September, an increase of $9.4 billion,” the
AFK said.


The Kazakhstan Association of Financiers brings together more
than 130 financial market participants, including banks, insurance
companies, mortgage and leasing organizations, microfinance
organizations and pawnshops, the Unified Accumulative Pension Fund,
professional securities market participants, auditing and
consulting companies, educational institutions and media
outlets.