Kazakhstan’s Central Bank plans to stagedly introduce restrictions on the country’s banks’ ability to keep their equity capital abroad, Tengrinews reports citing the Central Bank Governor Kairat Kelimbetov.
Kazakhstan’s Central Bank plans to stagedly introduce restrictions on the country’s banks’ ability to keep their equity capital abroad, Tengrinews reports citing the Central Bank Governor Kairat Kelimbetov.
“The Central Bank’s requirement is to have banks keep 70% of their equity capital inside the country. Up to now they have been able to keep the money on their correspondent accounts abroad,” he told a briefing in Almaty, the country’s biggest city, September 10.
This is expected to bring over $1.3 billion back to Kazakhstan, Vice-Governor of the central bank Kuat Kozhakhmetov said at the same briefing.
Governor Kelimbetov emphasized that the requirement would be applied to all Kazakhstan-based banks, excepting Kazkommertsbank and Halyk Banks, starting from October 1. “After a while, the measure will also be applied to these two banks as well,” he said.
The equity capitals and funds that the banks get from Kazakhstan citizens in deposits, should stay in here, but the banks can choose for themselves whether to keep the money in tenge or in dollars, he continued.
Vice-Governor Kozhakhmetov elaborated that the citizens' deposits in the banks totalled at $24 billion, which, according to Governor Kelimbetov, amounted to 12% of Kazakhstan's GDP.
“We believe the money should be kept inside the country (…) and we are calling the banks to keep it within the country’s economy”, he said.