In November, yuan transactions between Kazakhstani banks reached 1.35 billion yuan ($186 million), marking a 133-fold increase compared to October when the transactions amounted to 10.5 million, according to statistics published by the National Bank of Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan’s First Credit Bureau (FCB) was the first to notice these dynamics.
The total trading volume, including transactions involving non-residents, reached 1.45 billion yuan ($199.8 million), with Kazakhstani residents accounting for the majority of trading transactions. The FCB attributed the rapid growth to a low base in the previous month when transaction volumes were minimal. November’s figures marked the second-highest level since the National Bank began publishing this data in mid-2019. The one-billion-yuan mark was surpassed only once in June 2024, when the trading volume reached 3.88 billion yuan.
Experts relate the intensification of yuan trade to changes in settlement practices between Russian and Chinese companies. Sanctions imposed on the Moscow Exchange (MOEX) in June, combined with the rise in yuan usage in Russian import settlements from 1% to 46% over the past two years, may have prompted the use of Kazakhstan as a platform for conducting these transactions.
In September, Bloomberg reported that Russian companies and banks have increasingly turned to Kazakhstan to acquire the yuan needed for trade with China, following U.S. sanctions that complicated this process within Russia. The U.S. imposed sanctions on the Moscow Exchange (MOEX) in June.
At the same time, the Russian ruble transaction volume on the interbank market nearly returned to annual averages in November, totaling approximately $176.13 million, with non-residents accounting for 82% of the transactions.
