Net gold and money reserves decreased by 2.6% to $ 22,659.0 million in December 2009 of National Bank of Kazakhstan

/IRBIS, January 13, 2010/ - National Bank of Kazakhstan issued a press release stating that the net international reserves of National Bank, not including the money of the National Fund of the Republic of Kazakhstan, at current prices for December 2009 decreased by 26% to $ 22,659.00 million The press release stated that the main factor in the reduction of net international reserves was the reduction of assets in gold by 7.8% as a result of reducing its price on world markets by 5.8%. Purchase of foreign currency on the domestic currency market and receipt of currency on accounts of the Government of the National Bank in December 2009 have been neutralized by operations to service the external debt of the Government and the reduction of balances on correspondent accounts with banks in foreign currency in the National Bank. In December 2009 the international reserves of the country as a whole (in current prices), including the assets of the National Fund of Kazakhstan in foreign currency (preliminary $ 24.4 billion), declined by 1.2%, to $ 47.6 bn. in assets of the National Fund national currency amounted to KZT 750 billion (bonds "NWF Samruk-Kazyna" and JSC "TH" KazAgro"). In November 2009, the money supply decreased by 3.0% to KZT 7,094.5 billion at the expense of domestic assets of the banking system, the structure which significantly reduce the net demand to the Government. In November 2009 the volume of cash in circulation grew by 2.0% and amounted to KZT 836.7 billion, deposits in the banking system declined by 3.6% to KZT 6,257.9 billion. The growth of cash in circulation by decline in deposits caused the decline in the share of deposits in the structure of broad money from 88.8% in October 2009 to 88.2% in November 2009. The money multiplier dropped from 2.85 in October 2009 to 2.83 in November 2009 due to a higher rate to reduce money supply, compared with the pace of contraction of the monetary base. The following are the dynamics of the international reserves of National Bank and the monetary base (current prices). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ changes (in %): ------------------------------- Dec. from the Indicator 2009 in month beginning in year of 2009 ------------------------------------ --------- -------- ----------- ---------- Net international reserves, mln USD 22,659.00 -2.6 +30.3 +16.8 including: net assets in convertible currency * 20,718.00 -2.2 +33.3 +19.1 gold 2,501.00 -7.8 +35.0 +25.0 Monetary base, billion KZT 2,451.20 -2.1 +67.4 +66.6 Narrow monetary base, billion KZT 1,962.10 +4.6 +34.9 +36.4 Deposits STB in the National Bank, 1,558.50 -7.1 156.9 times 47.2 times billion KZT KZT / USD (at end of period) 148.46 -0.1 +23.4 +22.9 Gold Price (per 1 troy ounce in USD) 1,091.50 -7.6 +31.7 +26.2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ * Net assets in hard currency is difference between gross assets and liabilities in SLE. [2010-01-13]