National Bank Holds Base Rate at 18% as Tenge Firms on Market Expectations

The National Bank of Kazakhstan has kept its base rate at 18%, leaving monetary policy unchanged at the final meeting of 2025, Orda.kz reports. The decision was widely expected by analysts.

The tenge began strengthening ahead of the announcement — shortly before the decision, the dollar had fallen to 516.8 tenge. Experts link the appreciation to market confidence that the regulator would avoid further tightening.

The current rate has remained unchanged since October 13, when it was raised by 150 basis points to a 25-year high in an effort to curb inflation.

Halyk Finance analysts earlier predicted that the rate would be held steady. According to analyst Alexey Afonsky, slowing inflation, a freeze on utility tariffs, reduced National Fund transfers, and a stronger tenge gave the regulator space to pause rather than intervene again.

Original Author: Ruslan Loginov