BAKU, Azerbaijan, Apr.5
Trend:
The National Bank of Kazakhstan (NBK) issued a reporting balance of payments for 2020, Trend reports referring to a source in the NBK.
According to the source, the payment balance’s current account was formed with a deficit of $6.3 billion, while in 2019 the deficit made up $7.3 billion. Such improvement was mainly due to reduced income payable to foreign investors, as well as the inflow of $1.3 billion from the Karachaganak Karachaganak Petroleum Operating (KPO) B.V.'s participants within the settlement of the dispute between Kazakhstan and the KPO.
As the preliminary data published in January 2021 showed, the current account of the payment balance for 2020 was formed with a deficit of $5.9 billion. The changes towards a growth in the deficit by $406.1 million were mainly related to the revisions to the data on international trade and the received reports of the respondents on capital flows.
In the reporting year, exports of goods decreased by 19.7 percent compared to 2019, to $46.7 billion. The decrease in exports is mainly due to a decrease in the export of oil and gas condensate. Imports of goods decreased by 9.6 percent to $36.2 billion, which was due to a decrease in the import of investment and intermediate goods. As a result, the trade surplus decreased by 42.1 percent to $10.5 billion.
Meanwhile, revenues payable to foreign direct investors lowered by 34.6 percent to $13.9 billion, influenced by the decline in oil prices and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Net capital inflow to the financial account (excluding operations with reserve assets of the NBK) in 2020 amounted to $15.3 billion, while in 2019 - $1.6 billion. The inflow was mainly ensured by the continuation of financing the implementation of the future expansion of Tengizchevroil LLP, the placement of sovereign bonds by Kazakhstan’s Finance Ministry, attraction of a government loan from the Asian Development Bank and the operations of the country’s National Fund.
Reserve assets (excluding assets of the fund) as of January 1, 2021 were estimated at $35.6 billion, meeting over 9-month demand for financing Kazakh imports of goods and services.