National Bank of Kazakhstan plans to sell currency worth 1.1 trl tenge in Q1 2026The National Bank of Kazakhstan plans to sell foreign currency equivalent to about 1.1 trillion tenge within the framework of mirroring operations in the first quarter of 2026, the press service of the macro-regulator reported."In the first quarter of 2026, as part of mirroring operations, to neutralize the projected emission from the implementation of the priority right, and taking into account the liquidity remaining unabsorbed from 2025 against the backdrop of a significant increase in the price of gold, it is planned to sell foreign currency equivalent to about 1.1 trillion tenge," the National Bank of Kazakhstan said in a statement released on Monday.Within the framework of mirroring operations, 475 billion tenge was sterilized in December. In total, in 2025, sales from gold and foreign exchange reserves as part of mirroring operations amounted to $7 billion.The regulator noted that when conducting operations with National Fund funds, as well as when implementing the mirroring mechanism, the National Bank adheres to the principle of market neutrality, which implies regular and uniform sales of foreign currency.No foreign exchange interventions were conducted by the National Bank in December, the macro-regulator reports. The volume of foreign exchange earnings sold at the end of the past month, under the rule on mandatory sale of a portion of foreign exchange earnings by quasi-public sector entities, amounted to about $315 million.The National Bank did not purchase US dollars for the investment portfolio of pension assets in December. Currency purchases in January are also not planned.At the end of December, the tenge exchange rate strengthened by 1.3%, to 505.73 tenge per US dollar. The average daily trading volume on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange for the month increased from $280 million to $359 million. The total trading volume amounted to $7.9 billion.Overall, for 2025, the tenge exchange rate strengthened by 3.7% - from 525.10 to 505.73 tenge per US dollar. Trading volume amounted to $63 billion, an increase of 15% compared to 2024.To allocate transfers to the republican budget, as well as to finance the infrastructure project for the construction of the Taldykorgan-Usharal main gas pipeline, $400 million was sold from the National Fund in December 2025, which accounted for 5% of the total trading volume, or about $18 million per day. In total, $8.2 billion was sold from the National Fund in 2025.According to the government's forecast applications for converting transfers to the republican budget in January 2026, the National Bank expects the sale of currency from the National Fund in the amount of $350 million to $450 million. (ICE ALMATY)

Fonte notizia: INTERFAX