Marchenko – No Second Wave of Devaluation

    There will be no second wave of devaluation in Kazakhstan, National Bank of Kazakhstan Governor Grigoriy Marchenko said at a briefing for journalists, Kazakhstan Today reports.
    "We have dealt with the devaluation, which we had on February 4, and with the new corridor the National Bank has announced, it supports and will continue to support further at - KZT 150 plus/minus KZT 5 per dollar. On every Friday or Saturday information has appeared that on Monday or this time on Tuesday -- there will another wave of devaluation," Marchenko said. He added, “This situation has occurred in Almaty and Astana, but more frequently in Almaty."
    "We have stated that it was mid-term reference line, and we will back up this corridor. There has been all sorts of speculation it is only for one month, or for three months. For those who like to interpret statements I would like to say that – ‘midterm’ in Russian means -- more than 1 year," the National Bank head said.
    He added that all industries have sufficient reserves of cash in foreign currency. "At the moment there is about US $450 million cash in foreign currency in the country. If we need more, we will bring in more," Mr Marchenko said.
    He concluded by saying some problems have been observed with certain currency exchange points, which have stopped selling foreign currency at night, but sell foreign currency at a “fantastic market rate," using an “escape door,” according to Kazakhstan Today.