In August 2016 Kazakhstan increased its gold and foreign currency reserves by 1.09% month on month and 10.15% year to date to $30.71bn. This is the highest amount since July 2012. For comparison, a year earlier the reserves stood at $29.09bn or $1.6bn less. Net international reserves reached $39.8bbn in August. The reserves largely benefited from allowing the national currency to float freely in August 2015.
Assets of the National Fund increased by 0.2% month on month and 2.12% year to date to $64.85bn. They stood at $68.78 a year earlier.
Growth in the price of gold this year helped increase the country’s gold reserves to $10.31bn, or 36.13% up year to date. However, gold price stagnation on global markets led to a certain decrease in gold assets (in monetary terms) by 0.3% year on year in July. Foreign exchange reserves increased by 0.46% year on year and 1.81% month on month to $20.39bn.
The National Bank’s net sales of foreign currency totalled $145.8mn in August 2016. As a result, two in a row the bank carried out net sales of foreign currency as part of its interventions on the domestic market. Earlier, in February-June 2016 it made net purchases of foreign currency to replenish foreign currency reserves and to prevent the tenge from strengthening, with the greatest amount worth $1.24bn purchased in March.