National Bank chief gives inflation forecast for 2026

Tengrinews.kz – National Bank Chairman Timur Suleimenov has outlined Kazakhstan’s inflation forecast for the current year while answering a question from President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. He made the statement during an extended government meeting.

According to Suleimenov, given global uncertainty and domestic economic processes, inflation this year is expected to fall within a 9–12 percent range.

“Regarding inflation, for this year our corridor is generally forecast at 9 to 12 percent, based on global uncertainty and internal processes. Our core task as the National Bank — we discussed this with the government — is to keep inflation below 10 percent this year, and preferably to reach 9 percent and lower by the end of the year,” the head of the National Bank said.

Earlier, on January 23, the National Bank of Kazakhstan announced its decision on the base rate, keeping it unchanged at 18 percent per annum, with a +/- 1 percentage point corridor.