New chairman of National Bank doesn’t rule out further decreasing of base rate

Timur Suleymenov, who was appointed as the new chairman of the National Bank of Kazakhstan on September 4, shared his thoughts on the possibility of the base rate decreasing, the Ulysmedia website reported.

«Inflation is the most dangerous process for our economy. We have to decide on this first. We will decrease the rate if the necessary conditions emerge,» Suleymenov said.

He also promised to answer questions from the media and explain his monetary policy stance a little bit later.

At the end of August, the National Bank, headed at the time by Galymzhan Pirmatov, decreased the base rate by 0.25% to 16.50% after it kept the base rate at 16.75% since December 2022.

On the morning of September 4, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev issued an edict that dismissed Pirmatov from office. Suleymenov, who has been appointed as the new chairman of the bank, previously worked as deputy head of the president’s administration. Over the period from 2016 to 2019, he was the minister of the national economy. The candidacy of Suleymenov has already been approved by the Senate, the upper house of Kazakhstan’s parliament, although the president hasn’t yet signed the corresponding edict on the appointment.