The National Bank of Kazakhstan (NBK) has reported a decline in its international reserves to $34.5bn as of the end of January 2024, marking a decrease of $978.33mn compared to the same period last year. However, the rate has seen a m/m increase of $222mn.
The net foreign assets of the NBK, which represent the difference between its external assets and liabilities toward nonresidents, have dropped by 1.3% m/m and 1.6% y/y, from $96.8bn to $95.2bn.
External Assets
According to the NBK’s monetary policy methodology, net foreign assets include net international reserves, which are calculated as the difference between gross international assets and external liabilities in hard currency, assets of the National Fund, and other net foreign assets.
Gross international reserves in hard currency reached $36.4bn, showing a slight m/m increase but a $1.1bn decrease y/y. External liabilities in hard currency amounted to $1.9bn, compared to $2bn in December 2023. The external assets of the National Fund have shrunk by 2.5% m/m, from $60.7bn to $59.14bn.
As of the end of January 2024, the NBK reported $59.4bn in the National Fund assets it supervised, $34.6bn in net international reserves, $19.6bn in gold, $14.2bn in hard currency, and $36.6bn in gross international reserves.
Other net foreign assets also declined. As of January 2024, the regulator reported $1.5bn in these assets, which is lower than in December 2023 ($1.6bn) and January 2023 ($2.3bn).
Internal Assets
Internal assets of the National Fund grew by almost $4.4bn compared to January 2023, reaching $64.8bn. Liabilities of the NBK on short-term notes exceeded receivables from banks, reaching $1.5bn as of the end of January 2024. The rate dropped by 2.7 times y/y (from $4.2bn). The regulator’s liabilities to the government increased to $5.1bn ($4.4bn as of December 1, 2023). The rate slightly decreased from $5.5bn y/y. Receivables from banks rose from $11.2bn to $11.3bn. Other internal liabilities amounted to $13.6bn.
Internal Liabilities of the National Bank
Passive assets of the NBK include the money supply (cash in circulation and balances of banks with the NBK) and other liabilities. These passive assets slightly grew from $28.4bn to $28.52bn m/m and from $26bn to $28.4bn (+8.5%) y/y. This happened due to an increase in liabilities on reserve currency (from $25.5bn to $26.2bn), deposits in banks ($12.89bn to $14.45bn), and current accounts of various entities (from $209mn to $273mn). At the same time, the regulator reported a decrease in liabilities on transferable deposits of non-financial organizations, securities (stocks excluded), money supply, cash outside of the NBK, and other deposits.
In December 2023, Uzbekistan’s foreign exchange reserves saw an increase to $34.6bn, up from $32.9bn in November of the same year. From 2013 to 2023, the country’s foreign exchange reserves averaged $28.8bn. The reserves reached an all-time high of $35.9bn in January 2023 and hit a record low of $21.3bn in June 2013.
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