Azernews.Az

By Kamila Aliyeva

Inflation in Kazakhstan is expected to go down to the middle of the corridor of 5-7 percent till the end of the year.

This was announced by deputy chairman of the National Bank of Kazakhstan Alpysbai Akhmetov at the plenary session of the senate of the parliament, Kazinform reported.

“The statutory goal of the National Bank is to ensure price stability. Achieving this goal implies maintaining inflation within the established corridor. Inflation in annual terms decreased from 7.1 percent at the beginning of the year to 6.2 percent in May. Slowing inflationary processes is facilitated by a stable price situation in commodity markets, as well as the ongoing policy to regulate prices for natural monopoly services. Until the end of this year, we expect a reduction in inflation closer to the middle of the target corridor of 5-7 percent with the subsequent smooth entry into the new corridor of 4-6 percent in 2019,” he said.

The long-term goal of the National Bank is to ensure inflation below 4 percent from 2020 and in subsequent years, according to Akhmetov.

He noted that an important condition for reducing inflation is the management of inflation expectations.

“As part of the work carried out through population surveys, there is a gradual decline in both perceived current inflation and its expected level for the next 12 months. In particular, in May, the value of the expected inflation for the year decreased to 6 percent from the level of 7.1 percent at the beginning of the year, and from 6.3 percent in April. Following the decline in the inflation rate, the base rate has been reduced to 9 percent since June 5. This is the fourth decline in the current year. The rate of 9 percent is not only consistent with the inflation targets, but also contributes to a further decline in the cost of money in the economy,” the deputy chairman said.

The inflation rate in Kazakhstan in May 2018 amounted to 0.2 percent compared with the previous month and 2.4 percent compared to December 2017.

In the past month, food prices rose by 0.1 percent, non-food products - by 0.4 percent, while paid services for the population increased by 0.2 percent. Since the beginning of the year, as of June 1 this year, prices for food products rose by 2.9 percent, for non-food products - by 2.1 percent, and paid services rose by 2.1 percent.

The National Bank of Kazakhstan forecasts a decrease in inflation in 2018 to 5-7 percent.

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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

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