ASTANA, Kazakhstan, September 28. Chairman of the National Bank of Kazakhstan Timur Suleymenov held a meeting with global investors, Trend reports.
During the discussion, the head of the National Bank focused the participants’ attention on the current economic situation, the main directions of the monetary policy being implemented and the upcoming challenges.
Timur Suleymenov highlighted that the National Bank remains committed to its primary mandate of ensuring price stability.
"The main goal of the National Bank is to mitigate the pro-inflationary pressure and stabilize inflation close to the medium-term target of 5 percent. All efforts will be directed towards achieving this goal. At the same time, exchange rate of tenge will remain floating, allowing the economy to adapt more quickly to changes," he said.
Further direction of the monetary policy will align with previous actions and the information policy of the National Bank. With a further deceleration of actual inflation, a smooth reduction of the base rate will persist. However, the space for reduction is constrained by the risks of potential fiscal stimulus intensification and high inflation expectations amidst sustained demand in the economy.
Monetary policy will continue to be based on transparency, consistency, understandability and predictability. The bank will monitor the trajectory of annual inflation’s convergence to the target in order to promptly respond to possible deviations.
Inflation in Kazakhstan in July 2023 slowed down over the year and amounted to 14 percent (in June 2023 - 14.6 percent), over the month - 0.6 percent (previous month - 0.5 percent). Prices for food products over the year increased by 13.5 percent (in June 2023 - 14.6 percent), for non-food products - by 15 percent (in June 2023 - 15.8 percent), for paid services - by 13. 6 percent (in June 2023 – 13.3 percent).