The National Bank of Kazakhstan sold $1 billion on the exchange to support the tenge exchange rate in November and halted currency interventions. This was announced by the head of the financial regulator, Timur Suleimenov, as reported by Informburo.kz.
«We conducted interventions from November 16. It cost $1 billion. This is an exact figure,» Suleimenov said at a briefing at the financial institution.
Currently, the National Bank has suspended interventions. The exchange rate is being formed under the influence of purely market factors. If there are no sharp changes or speculative jumps, no further interventions are planned for 2024. According to Suleimenov, this measure was intended to ensure that the tenge would «land more softly» at its new level.
«If there were no interventions, there would be instability and possibly panic. Since market agents who sell or buy are people just like us. If they see the rate going up, they start buying in advance, creating additional demand. And even those who don't need dollars will think: 'I need to close a contract in three months, let me buy some dollars while the rate is low,'» Suleimenov explained.
On November 28, it was reported that the US dollar surpassed the 500 tenge mark, with trading occurring in the range of 518-519 tenge per dollar. According to the regulator, both external and internal factors are negatively affecting the exchange rate of the national currency. These include the global strengthening of the dollar, changes in commodity prices, and the escalation of geopolitical tensions worldwide.
