Kazakhstan reports a 1% increase in its international reserves

As of December 2022, Kazakhstan’s international reserves increased by 1% to $90.8 billion, including $35 billion of gross international reserves and $55.7 billion of National Fund assets, according to the country’s National Bank.

At the same time, the regulator noted that the country’s gold and foreign currency reserves have dropped by 4.8% to $20.5 billion, while assets in freely convertible currency increased by 16.7% to $14.6 billion.

Gold and foreign currency reserves are meant to be used to support the tenge exchange rate or to finance the deficit of the balance of payments. The National Bank forms these reserves at the expense of transactions in the internal market. The regulator buys foreign currency from exporters and non-resident investors. The National Fund, a sovereign fund of Kazakhstan, also helps the authorities support the tenge exchange rate.

In 2021, Kairat Kelimbetov, who at the time was a chairman of the Agency for Strategic Planning and Reforms, said he was going to beef up the National Fund assets to $100 billion by 2030.

«What do we have to do to achieve this goal? We have to switch from procyclical using of the National Fund, when we spend money both in feast and famine years, to countercyclical budget rule,» he said.