Kazakhstan increases gold reserves to reduce dependence on US dollar
By Trend
International reserves of Kazakhstan decreased by 11.8 percent as of March 2019 compared to the same period a year earlier and amounted to $27 billion, Trend reports with reference to finprom.kz.
Such a reduction in foreign exchange reserves in the corresponding period was the most significant in recent years.
A more noticeable decline (by 20.6 percent for the year) was observed earlier only in March 2013.
One of the reasons for the decline in international reserves in the current year is a decline in the price of gold by 1.8 percent over the year, from $1,325.6 to $1302.3 per ounce.
The share of gold in international reserves of Kazakhstan is rapidly increasing.
In March of the current year, gold as part of the reserves became 55.5 percent (a year earlier - 43.1 percent), and the currency - 44.5 percent (a year earlier - 56.9 percent).
Over the year, the volume of gold increased by 13.8 percent, from $13.2 billion to $ 15 billion. Foreign exchange reserves, in turn, decreased by 31.8 percent, from $ 17.5 billion to $ 12 billion.
In recent years, the National Bank has actively increased its gold reserves, thereby reducing currency dependence.
The desire of the National Bank to neutralize currency risks (mainly dependence on the US dollar) was reflected in a 7-fold increase in the volume of the yellow metal in the composition of gold and foreign exchange reserves over 10 years.
The dynamics of changes in the structure of the gold and currency reserves of Kazakhstan can be described as dedollarization of reserves.
The formed trend - the refusal of the dollar in the country's international reserves - indicates the intention of the National Bank of Kazakhstan to diversify assets and reduce dependence on the US currency.
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