Net international reserves decline in Kazakhstan

The National Bank of Kazakhstan reported that its international reserves reached $34.5 billion as of late January 2024, which is a $978.33 million decline compared to the same period last year. The rate increased by $222 million month-on-month though, according to the regulator.

Net foreign assets of the National Bank, which is the difference between its external assets and liabilities toward nonresidents, dropped by 1.3% month-on-month and 1.6% year-on-year from $96.8 billion to $95.2 billion.

External assets

Under the National Bank’s methodology of monetary policy, net foreign assets include the following: net international reserves calculated as the difference between gross international assets and external liabilities in hard currency; assets of the National Fund and other net foreign assets.

Gross international reserves in hard currency reached $36.4 billion, showing a slight increase month-on-month and a $1.1 billion decrease year-on-year. External liabilities in hard currency amounted to $1.90 billion compared to $2 billion in December 2023. External assets of the National Fund have shrunk by 2.5% month-on-month from $60.7 billion to $59.14 billion. As of late January 2024, the National Bank reported $59.4 billion in the National Fund assets it supervised, $34.6 billion in net international reserves, $19.6 billion in gold, $14.2 billion in hard currency and $36.6 billion in gross international reserves млрд.

Other net foreign assets also declined. As of January 2024, the regulator reported $1.5 billion in these assets, which is lower than in December 2023 ($1.6 billion) and January 2023 ($2.3 billion).

Internal assets

Net internal assets, which are receivables from the central government, commercial banks (liabilities for the National Bank’s notes are excluded), non-banking financial organizations, the remaining economy and other net internal assets in January 2024 amounted to minus $66.74 billion compared to minus $70.86 in January last year. Liabilities reached $6.1 billion compared to $5.3 billion in December 2023 and $6.8 billion in January 2023.

Internal assets of the National Fund grew by almost $4.4 billion compared to January 2023, reaching $64.8 billion. Liabilities of the National Bank on short-term notes exceeded receivables from banks, reaching $1.5 billion as of late January 2024. The rate dropped by 2.7 times year-on-year (from $4.2 billion). The regulator’s liabilities to the government increased to $5.1 billion ($4.4 as of December 1, 2023). The rate slightly decreased from $5.5 billion year-on-year. Receivables from banks rose from $11.2 billion to $11.3. Other internal liabilities amounted to $13.6 billion.

Internal liabilities of the National Bank

Passive assets of the National Bank include the money supply (cash in circulation and balances of banks with the National Bank) and other liabilities. These passive assets slightly grew from $28.4 billion to $28.52 billion month-on-month and from $26 billion to $28.4 (+8.5%) year-on-year. This happened due to an increase in liabilities on reserve currency (from $25.5 billion to $26.2), deposits in banks ($12.89 billion to $14.45) and current accounts of various entities (from $209 million to $273 million). At the same time, the regulator reported a decrease in liabilities on transferable deposits of non-financial organizations, securities (stocks excluded), money supply, cash outside of the National Bank and other deposits.