Kazakhstan reports increase in its international reserves

According to data from the National Bank, Kazakhstan’s international reserves grew by 1.8% to $96.3 billion in April 2023. In March, this rate was 2.9%. Since the beginning of the year, the growth has been about 6%.

This growth was driven by a 3.8% increase in gross international reserves on a month-on-month (m/m) basis. The National Fund also reported an increase in its assets to $58.7 billion (+0.5%) in April.

However, the regulator’s assets now include less gold, as the metal’s share in the National Bank’s reserves declined by 3.7% m/m to $20.3 billion. On the other hand, assets nominated in freely convertible currency rose by 14.4% to $17.3 billion in April (by 18.4% since January 2023.)

In the middle of April, the Ministry of National Economy said that the weakening of the tenge and the OPEC+ decision to cut oil output may help the National Fund increase cash inflows this year.

In the middle of March, members of the Senate, the upper house of Kazakhstan’s parliament, adopted some amendments to the 2023 state budget like an increase in spending from $4.9 billion to $50.3 billion. Some MPs weren’t happy with this practice when the cabinet takes money from the National Fund. For instance, Bekbol Orynbasarov, an MP, believes that the country’s budget is routinely received money from the fund despite the need for any usage of this money to be regulated by countercyclical budget rules.

The regulator forms its international reserves, designed for supporting the exchange rate of the tenge and financing deficit of payment balance, at the expense of transactions on the domestic market. This rate consists of gross international reserves and assets of the National Fund.