Central Bank Governor on a possible global crisis

Assets of the National Oil Fund are sufficient to overcome a far more serious global crisis than the one we have overcome, Central Bank Governor Gregory Marchenko believes, Novosti Kazakhstan reports. “Should there be another crisis, we may tap into the Fund’s assets. How much can be spent – it’s up to the President, the Government and the Parliament to decide. We [the National Bank] just manage the assets. If we spent only $10 billion to overcome the toughest global crisis in the last 6 decades, then $20 billion will be surely enough to overcome a more protracted crisis”, Mr. Marchenko told journalists in Astana. He elaborated that the National Fund’s assets made up $43.5 billion. “Securities of Greece, Ireland and Portugal we sold in May 2009, making no losses. We sold securities of Spain and Italy in October this year, making no losses as well”, he said. “We are cautious when managing the assets and I believe the National Bank has been doing it with professionalism”, Marchenko said. He expressed hope that “European politicians will find solutions to their problems in 2012, and 2012 will be good enough for us”.