MP Criticized Government and National Bank over Exchange Rate

At a chamber meeting, Majilis deputy Yelnur Beisembayev harshly criticized the government’s financial and economic bloc and the National Bank’s approach to currency policy, Orda.kz reports. 

Beisembayev expressed dissatisfaction with recent statements by officials who called the dollar's rapid growth “just a number.”

The recent statement by a number of officials that the dollar to tenge exchange rate is 'just a number' ignores the future financial consequences for citizens. We must understand that the number of low-income people living from paycheck to paycheck is a thousand times greater than the number of exporters who benefit from a high dollar exchange rate. The logical question arises: whose side is the government on? On the side of ordinary people or on the side of the oligarchs?the deputy asked.

The parliamentarian also drew attention to the problem of excessive borrowing to cover government spending.

Almost a third of our expenses are covered by borrowing. The costs of servicing state and government loans over three years will exceed six trillion tenge. At the same time, most of the loans are carried out through the quasi-public sector, bypassing parliament. This year, the external debt has exceeded $166 billion, having increased by three billion dollars since the beginning of the year. That is, the external debt is equal to four annual budgets of our country, he emphasized

Beisembayev said that the government is not working hard enough to find new sources of income.

The deputy noted that this situation arises because the government always has the opportunity to borrow money from the National Fund. 

This calls into question the ability of the Cabinet of Ministers to ensure the long-term stability of the economy and undermines confidence in the budget policy being pursued.

Original Author: Artem Volkov