Kazakhstan had no choice but to let tenge float, Nazarbayev says

    Kazakhstan's transition to a free floating exchange rate was a necessary measure, there was no other alternative, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev on Thursday.
    Prime Minister Karim Masimov announced yesterday that Kazakhstan has launched a new monetary policy based on a free floating tenge and has canceled its currency corridor.
    The average rate for tenge in the morning stood at 255.26 tenge per dollar as of Thursday against 188.38 tenge per dollar on Wednesday.
    "Having considered all the possibilities, the most correct one was the introduction of a free floating exchange rate for the tenge and the introduction of a new monetary policy based on inflation targeting. It must be admitted this is a needed measure," Nazarbayev said on Thursday during a session with business representatives.
    The Kazakh central bank said in mid-July it would allow the tenge - which it devalued in February 2014 - to weaken on the market, by extending the corridor's ceiling by 10 tenge to 198 per dollar, Akipress reports.