Tag Archives: central bank

Senior Central Bank official named head of Kazakhstan’s Kazatomprom

AUG. 31 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Galymzhan Pirmatov, formerly deputy chairman of the Kazakh Central Bank, was named head of Kazatompron, Kazakhstan’s atomic energy agency, replacing Askar Zhumagaliyev who was made a deputy PM earlier in August (Aug. 31). Kazatomprom is a high profile company in Kazakhstan, with Pres. Nursultan Nazarbayev pushing nuclear power and uranium mining. Mr Pirmatov has previously been a VP at Kazatomprom.

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(News report from Issue No. 342, published on Sept. 7 2017)

Kazakhstan keeps interest rates steady

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AUG. 29 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan kept its key interest rate at 5%, citing low inflation and strong economic growth. Central Asia is emerging from a period of low growth, pressured by sluggish Russian economic performance. The latest economic data adds to the generally improving picture. Only a year ago, central banks in the region were boosting interest rates in an effort to dampen inflation and prop up ailing currencies.

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(News report from Issue No. 342, published on Sept. 7 2017)

Kazakh Central Bank cuts interest rates

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ALMATY AUG. 21 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s Central Bank cut its key interest rate by a quarter of a percent to 10.25% because it said that inflationary pressures had slowed. It also said, though, that further rate cuts this year were unlikely. The Kazakh Central Bank had yanked up interest rates to 17% in 2016 because of a collapse in the value of the tenge and also inflationary pressure.

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(News report from Issue No. 341, published on Aug. 27 2017)

Uzbek CB introduces new bank note

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AUG. 14 2017 (The Bulletin) — Reflecting sharp inflationary pressures, the Uzbek Central Bank said that it was going to introduce a 50,000 soum banknote. In June, in a rare statement, the Central Bank said that rising inflation had forced it to increase its key interest rate to 14% from 9%. Earlier this year it introduced a 10,000 soum note. The 50,000 soum note is equivalent to $12 on the official exchange market and around $6 on the unofficial market.

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(News report from Issue No. 340, published on Aug. 20 2017)

Kazakh CB to bail out commercial banks

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AUG. 10 2017 (The Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s Central Bank will write off bad loans held by the country’s commercial banks worth $1.8b to $3b through a bond purchasing programme, Olzhas Kizatov, head of its banking sector supervision department, told media. In essence this is a bail-out of the Kazakh banking sector. The Central Bank had estimated that 11% of the banks’ loan portfolio was considered bad but Mr Kizatov said that the real figure was higher.

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(News report from Issue No. 339, published on Aug. 13 2017)

Kazakh CB blames rouble for tenge fall

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AUG. 2 2017 (The Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s Central Bank said that speculation over the Russian rouble had forced a depreciation of the tenge. By the end of trading on Aug. 4, the tenge was trading at 332.91/$1, down from around 310/$1 at the end of May. Kazakhs have openly started to worry about a repeat of the devaluation of 2015 that wiped 50% off the value of the currency.

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(News report from Issue No. 336, published on Aug. 5 2017)

Azerbaijan’s CB keeps interest rates steady

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AUG. 1 2017 (The Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s Central Bank kept its key interest rate at 15% saying that it had seen some improvements in key economic indicators over the past few months. Specifically, it said that growth in the non-oil sector had been 5.4% in the first half of the year, 3.7% increase in trade volumes and 2.2% increase in agriculture. The Central Bank said, though, that inflation remained a concern.

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(News report from Issue No. 336, published on Aug. 5 2017)

Currencies: Uzbekistan’s soum

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JULY 27 2017 (The Bulletin) — So, it looks like we already have the big currency story of the year for the region. At least, that is, unless something goes terribly wrong with some of the more wobbly currencies out there – mentioning no names – Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and even Kazakhstan.

The IMF returned from a mission to Tashkent saying that the government there was fully intending to relax currency exchange regulations that have strangled foreign investment. The official rate of the Uzbek soum is now just over 4,000/$1. The unofficial rate is more than double. How they merge is going to be the story to watch.

In the meantime, if anybody has missed it, it is clear that the Uzbek Central Bank has been managing a steady devaluation of its currency. The chart below shows the steps it has been making to devalue it – by more than 25% since the end of January.

On the equities front, KAZ Minerals continues to outperform, mainly because of another surge in copper prices.

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(News report from Issue No. 337, published on July 27 2017)

Armenia’s CB keeps interest rates steady

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JUNE 27 2017 (The Bulletin) — Armenia’s Central Bank kept its key interest rate unchanged at 6%, holding true to is assessment earlier this year that it would stop its easing cycle to ward off a potential jump in inflation. Armenia had been measuring deflation until the start of this year when it said that the economy had turned a corner and that prices were now rising. It had steadily slashed its interest rate from 10.5% in 2015 to 6% in February 2017.

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(News report from Issue No. 335, published on July 3 2017)

Kyrgyz CB keeps interest rate steady

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JUNE 28 2017 (The Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan’s Central Bank kept its key interest rate steady at 5% because of rising inflation and economic growth. The rate decision is good news as it will be seen as a positive assessment of the Kyrgyz economy which has been battling against a downturn over the past three years or so. Inflation in Kyrgyzstan is currently running at around 3.8%. At the end of last year it was recording deflation.

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(News report from Issue No. 335, published on July 3 2017)