The head of state heard a report on the results of monetary policy implementation in January-July 2026.
At the meeting, Timur Suleimenov reported on the economic situation, business activity, inflation factors, and measures taken to stabilize prices.
According to the Chairman of the National Bank, annual inflation has been declining for the tenth month in a row and reached 10.2% in July, driven by ongoing monetary policy, the strengthening of the tenge exchange rate, stabilization of consumer activity, and a set of coordinated anti-inflation measures by the Government and the National Bank.
As of July 1, 2026, banks' loan portfolio for business loans increased by 17.1% year-on-year, while the rate of lending to small and medium-sized businesses accelerated to 29.6%.
At the same time, consumer lending growth slowed from 21.0% at the beginning of the year to 13.0%, demonstrating the effectiveness of the adopted prudential measures and the normalization of consumer lending rates. Consequently, credit resources are being redistributed toward business financing.
He also reported on the situation on the foreign exchange market, the status of the National Fund and the Unified Pension Fund, and the country's gold and foreign exchange reserves. As of July 1 of this year, the combined value of the National Fund and gold and foreign exchange reserves amounted to $127.3 billion.
To develop Alatau City's financial ecosystem, the National Bank has developed measures aimed at rapid and flexible capital transfer and attracting investment for the city's development. The National Fund's investment income for the first half of this year reached $2.3 billion. Pension assets of the ENPF amounted to 27.8 trillion tenge, an increase of 1.7 trillion tenge since the beginning of the year.
Timur Suleimenov presented progress on the implementation of the President's instructions on developing the digital financial asset industry and the National Digital Financial Infrastructure. New areas include the use of stablecoins for cross-border payments, infrastructure development, and the issuance of tokenized government assets. A new segment of the payments market—licensed category-one payment organizations—has also been introduced. This will stimulate competition, reduce customer costs, and expand the availability of digital innovative services for individuals and businesses.
"As part of the National Payment System, QR payments and phone number transfers between clients of any bank were launched on July 19. Since its launch, the system has processed 6.5 million transactions worth 170 billion tenge," said the Chairman of the National Bank.
The National Bank is taking all necessary measures to ensure price stability and achieve the medium-term inflation target of 5%.
Following the meeting, the President set a number of objectives for the National Bank's activities and emphasized the importance of further stabilizing inflation.
By the Kazakhstanskaya Pravda
