Kazakhstan’s Central Bank Governor tasked with further reforming the pension system

Nursultan Nazarbayev. © Daniyal Okassov

Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev commissioned the country’s Central Bank Governor Gregory Marchenko to work out suggestions to reform the pension system, the President’s Press Service reported September 17. “The current state of the currency market and the banking system has been stable. Both the National Oil Fund’s assets and the country’s gold and currency reserves keep growing. The combined figure as of today stands at $85 billion. The inflation rate remains relatively low at 4.7%”, the Press Service quoted Mr. Marchenko as saying. According to the Press Service, when closing the meeting President Nazarbayev tasked Mr. Marchenko with drafting suggestions on how to further reform the country’s pension system and how to use financial institutions’ funds to finance projects within public-private partnership schemes. The National Fund of Kazakhstan was created in 2000 as a stabilization fund that accumulates windfall revenues from oil sales and ensures the economy of Kazakhstan will be stable against the price swings of oil. The assets of the National Fund assets are monitored by the National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Earlier Tengrinews.kz reported that Mr. Marchenko doesn’t support the World Bank’s suggestion on launching a single pension fund. “We [the Central Bank] turn down the suggestion with indignation. It is wrong to invest the accumulated pension assets abroad”, he believes. According to the Central Bank Governor, the major reason why such suggestions have been surfacing is that the pension savings figure currently stands at $18 billion, and “it is a lucrative lump of interest to many, and many entities would want to decide on investing the funds”. Mr. Marchenko emphasized that Kazakhstan needs to think of public private partnerships to launch investment projects inside the country. He believes about $6 billion of pension assets could be invested into domestic projects involving dependable borrowers.

Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev commissioned the country’s Central Bank Governor Gregory Marchenko to work out suggestions to reform the pension system, the President’s Press Service reported September 17. “The current state of the currency market and the banking system has been stable. Both the National Oil Fund’s assets and the country’s gold and currency reserves keep growing. The combined figure as of today stands at $85 billion. The inflation rate remains relatively low at 4.7%”, the Press Service quoted Mr. Marchenko as saying. According to the Press Service, when closing the meeting President Nazarbayev tasked Mr. Marchenko with drafting suggestions on how to further reform the country’s pension system and how to use financial institutions’ funds to finance projects within public-private partnership schemes. The National Fund of Kazakhstan was created in 2000 as a stabilization fund that accumulates windfall revenues from oil sales and ensures the economy of Kazakhstan will be stable against the price swings of oil. The assets of the National Fund assets are monitored by the National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Earlier Tengrinews.kz reported that Mr. Marchenko doesn’t support the World Bank’s suggestion on launching a single pension fund. “We [the Central Bank] turn down the suggestion with indignation. It is wrong to invest the accumulated pension assets abroad”, he believes. According to the Central Bank Governor, the major reason why such suggestions have been surfacing is that the pension savings figure currently stands at $18 billion, and “it is a lucrative lump of interest to many, and many entities would want to decide on investing the funds”. Mr. Marchenko emphasized that Kazakhstan needs to think of public private partnerships to launch investment projects inside the country. He believes about $6 billion of pension assets could be invested into domestic projects involving dependable borrowers.

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