Kazakhstan Central Bank Extends FX Sales After $700 Million July Draw

Kazakhstan’s National Bank disclosed that it sold US$700 million from the oil-backed National Fund on the domestic market in July, stepping up efforts to supply hard currency and smooth volatility in the tenge. The central bank said it will continue drawing on the sovereign wealth fund, targeting US$500 million of sales in August. In a parallel move, it offloaded 290 billion tenge during July to offset its purchases of monetary gold and plans to match that amount with further tenge sales this month. Market operations intensified toward the end of the period: the bank spent US$125.6 million on 30 July in a direct foreign-exchange intervention aimed at stabilizing the currency. It also bought US$35 million on behalf of the state pension fund during the month but does not intend to make similar pension-fund purchases in August.