The inflation in Kazakhstan in 1999 will not exceed 20% - NBK

/Almaty office REUTERS, 10.08.99/ - According to the National Bank forecasts, the inflation in 1999 will not exceed 20% against 16.8% scheduled in the budget. The consumer price index in 2000 year is expected to be no more than 9%, and in 2001 - no more than 4-5%. "The inflation in the current year will not exceed 20%, there are quite exact valuations - optimistic as well as pessimistic, and all of them lay in the interval from 6 to 18%. On the end of the next year the inflation will not exceed 9%, and in 2001 it will no more 4-5%", - Iskander Baisembetov, vice-president of the National Bank said. According to Baisembetov, the National Bank studied probability of the further devaluation of currencies of the main Kazakhstan trade partners, first of all - of Russia, USA, countries of South-East Asia and Europe. "We see, that Russian rouble is the most unstable currency in this basket. But, as there are definite parameters of the Russian budget of the next year, we hope, that nothing terrible for our economy will happen," - he add. Under the National Bank forecast, already in this year we can expect the growth and stabilisation of the prices of oil, non-ferrous metals, and wheat, which are the main items of the Kazakhstan export and budget incomes. "The price of wheat will rise in this year, because already now we see, that the crop in Russia, the largest importer of the Kazakhstan grain, will be insufficient", - Baisembetov said. In 1998 the inflation in Kazakhstan was the lowest for some last years - 1.9%. During seven months of the current year consumer costs have grown by 12.9%. The rise of prices was caused by devaluation of national currency in April, when the National Bank has started to use the floating exchange rate. The highest inflation was in July - 4.8% (as a result of bread and petroleum prices jump), and also in April - 4.6%.