Astana, Kazakhstan, April 16
By Daniyar Mukhtarov - Trend:
Only 40 percent of the funds have been returned to Kazakhstan's banks after the outflow of deposits from SMS-attack, the chairman of the National Bank of Kazakhstan Kairat Kelimbetov said.
"Today, about 100 billion tenge [$1 -182.02 tenge] have already been returned to the second-tier banks. This is almost 40 percent of the total amount that was removed from deposits by the Kazakh people due to an SMS-attack. It was 250 billion tenge at that time," he said at a briefing held at the Central Communications Service for the President of Kazakhstan.
Kelimbetov said that about 100 billion tenge was returned to the banks in the last two months. The chairman of the National Bank expressed hope that the funds withdrawn from the deposits will be returned to the country's banking system by the end of the year.
"It is unreasonable to keep such big money at home," Kelimbetov said.
The Kazakh banking system has passed this test with dignity and refund of the money indicates a growing confidence of Kazakh people in the national banking system, he said.
"Nevertheless, we intend to continue explanatory work among public about the need to trust the banks," Kelimbetov said.
He also reminded that deposits act as the main source of funding of the second-tier banks.
"The growth of deposits in Kazakhstan's banks continued in 2013, which shows the preservation of public companies' trust in the banking system. The volume of residents' deposits in depository institutions has increased by 12.2 percent in 2013, reaching 10.1 trillion tenge," the National Bank chairman said.
As reported earlier, in February this year, a few days after the announcement of 19 percent devaluation of tenge in Kazakhstan, rumors began to spread both online and via sms-messages, claiming possible bankruptcy of the country's top three banks - "Center Credit" bank, "Kaspi bank "and" Alliance Bank ".
The rumors led to panic among investors and massive withdrawal of funds from the banks' deposits.
Translated by S.I.
Edited by S.I.
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