Kazakhstanis Cool on Dollar Despite Favorable Exchange Rate
Photo: Orda.kz
In February, net purchases of cash dollars at exchange offices amounted to 136 billion tenge, which is 22.3% less than a year ago and 9.5% less than in January, according to the National Bank. Kazakhstanis have shown decreased interest in the American currency despite its consistent decline over the past few months, Orda.kz reports.
Since the end of September, the tenge has strengthened against the dollar by 12.2%. At the time of publication, the American currency was worth 482.86 tenge. The strengthening of the tenge makes it profitable to buy dollars with an eye to reselling if the trend changes.
Experts explained the strengthening of the tenge by the inflow of foreign investors into the market, as well as the sale of currency by exporters and the National Bank as part of transfers from the National Fund and mirroring gold purchases. Later, the tax period, during which businesses sell foreign currency earnings to pay taxes, added to the favorable factors for the tenge. In February, most factors had a weaker impact on the exchange rate (which is why Halyk Finance expected a moderate weakening of the tenge in March), but the national currency continued to be supported by oil, which was rising due to tensions around Iran, and a slightly weakening dollar.
Net purchases of the euro fell sharply year‑on‑year (by more than two‑thirds), but grew month‑on‑month (by 27.2%) and amounted to 10.5 billion tenge. The cross‑rate of the tenge to the euro has also risen consistently since last autumn and today stands at 556.6 tenge per euro.
Net purchases of the ruble turned positive for the first time in 14 months, reaching 1.06 billion tenge. In January, Kazakhstanis sold rubles worth 5.3 billion tenge; a year ago, they sold 12.4 billion
Original author: Alexey Afonsky
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