Kazakh tenge to stabilise within few weeks

25 Jan, 2016

The Kazakh tenge will probably stabilise within the next few weeks as it is coming closer to its equilibrium level, RIA news agency cited Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Masimov as saying on Friday.
The tenge has lost more than half of its value against the dollar since the oil-exporting Central Asian country abandoned its pegged exchange rate policy last August, saying it had become too costly to maintain.
"I think that we are already very close to some point of a relative equilibrium and in the foreseeable future, within a few weeks we will see stabilisation," Masimov, who is attending the World Economic Forum meetings in Davos, said.
The currency is closely tracking oil prices and the Russian rouble and Masimov said there could still be some short-term volatility.
"I think the decline in the price of oil will most likely continue in the short run," he said.
Masimov's comments echoed those of Kazakh central bank chairman Daniyar Akishev, who said this week he did not expect any sharp exchange rate movements as most of the negative scenarios had already materialised.
The oil price crash has reduced Kazakhstan's export revenues by two-thirds and prompted President Nursultan Nazarbayev this week to call an early parliamentary election, which will allow his allies to reaffirm control over the lower house before popular discontent over economic woes peaks.

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