National Fund reports increase in assets despite spike in expenditures

According to Chair of the National Bank Timur Suleymenov, since the start of the year, the National Fund of Kazakhstan has managed to boost its assets by 0.3% to $60.2 billion thanks to an inflow of $2 billion over the period from January 1 to February 29. However, over the same period, the fund carried out money transfers to the state budget for $2.2 billion.

«The National Fund’s assets increased by 0.3%, reaching $60.2 billion over January and February. In February, the fund reported a 1.44% increase in investment income ($870 million). Since the beginning of the year, the fund received $2 billion. The number of transfers to the state budget reached $2.2 billion,» he said during the cabinet’s meeting.

The official also reported the gross international reserves of the fund reached $96.4 billion as of the end of February. Gold reserves of the National Bank have grown by 0.5% to $36.2 billion since the beginning of the year. This happened partly because the regulator purchased gold before its price surged.

Pension assets of the United Accumulative Pension Fund (UAPF) have risen by 3.6% to $40.8 billion. Pension contributions reached $880 million with long-term withdrawals of $147.6 million.

The exchange rate of the tenge has strengthened by 0.9% or 450.65 tenge per one USD. According to Suleymenov, the National Bank continues to bet on flexible exchange rate formation mechanisms and does not conduct foreign currency interventions.

As the National Fund was selling foreign currency to secure money transfers to the country’s budget, this helped strengthen the exchange rate of the tenge. In February, the fund’s transfers to the budget reached $609 million. At the same time, about $400 million in foreign currency was bought to facilitate investments in the UAPF’s assets.