Kazakhstan’s Central Bank Governor calls commoners to count their blessings

Marat Abilov ©

Kazakhstan’s Central Bank Governor Kairat Kelimbetov believes Kazakhstanis live much better than citizens of other post-Soviet states, Tengrinews.kz reports. “As compared to many other post-Soviet states (if we don’t take Russia into account), Kazakhstan enjoys a much better life. I believe it would be wrong to be complaining about the currency exchange rate being not quite favorable [in the wake of the yesterday’s 20% currency devaluation] (…) The currency policy pursued by Kazakhstan has always been right”, he said at a press-conference at the President’s Public Communications Service. He cited the USA as an example, saying that Americans were happy over the US Dollar depreciating as it bolstered foreign trade. “We could be isolated from the rest of the world in terms of economy. However, we abandoned such economic isolation 30 years ago (…) I believe Kazakhstanis appreciate the policy pursued by the country’s authorities: many Kazakhstanis got a job, many have started their own businesses; it’s just the start of the way”, he said. “I want you to remember the number KZT 185 plus/minus KZT 3 [for USD1] (…) that is the currency band we will be living with in the mid run”, he summed up. Starting from February 11, 2014 Kazakhstan’s Central Bank decided to stop supporting the tenge exchange rate, decrease currency interventions and stop interference with shaping the tenge exchange rate.

Kazakhstan’s Central Bank Governor Kairat Kelimbetov believes Kazakhstanis live much better than citizens of other post-Soviet states, Tengrinews.kz reports. “As compared to many other post-Soviet states (if we don’t take Russia into account), Kazakhstan enjoys a much better life. I believe it would be wrong to be complaining about the currency exchange rate being not quite favorable [in the wake of the yesterday’s 20% currency devaluation] (…) The currency policy pursued by Kazakhstan has always been right”, he said at a press-conference at the President’s Public Communications Service. He cited the USA as an example, saying that Americans were happy over the US Dollar depreciating as it bolstered foreign trade. “We could be isolated from the rest of the world in terms of economy. However, we abandoned such economic isolation 30 years ago (…) I believe Kazakhstanis appreciate the policy pursued by the country’s authorities: many Kazakhstanis got a job, many have started their own businesses; it’s just the start of the way”, he said. “I want you to remember the number KZT 185 plus/minus KZT 3 [for USD1] (…) that is the currency band we will be living with in the mid run”, he summed up. Starting from February 11, 2014 Kazakhstan’s Central Bank decided to stop supporting the tenge exchange rate, decrease currency interventions and stop interference with shaping the tenge exchange rate.

Tenge news National Bank Kazakhstan Kazakh currency Central Bank