In August net gold and foreign exchange reserves of the National Bank of Kazakhstan increased to $1,074.4 mln

/IRBIS, Sep.06, 99/ - The National Bank of Kazakhstan in its press-release (#054) issued on September 06 states that: "In August both gross and net reserves of the National Bank of Kazakhstan at current prices increased by 5.7% and 10.1%, respectively. Growth in reserves by $87.4 mln in August is due to replenishment of currency reserves by $103.6 mln by purchasing in a domestic market with decrease in gold assets by $16.1 mln. Gold assets reduction is because of gold price decrease, and also because of swap operations carried out by the National Bank on external markets". Data given by the National Bank indicates that in August share of gold in gross reserves in current prices went down from 29.1% to 26.5%. In net gold and foreign exchange reserves decrease from 45.8 to 40.1%, respectively. It is also stated in the press-release that "present stability in the currency market had an impact on the growth of the monetary base, which has expanded by 10.0% (8.4 bln. tenge) in August". Following is a table that shows the gold and foreign exchange reserves of the National Bank as of September 01 1999: In current prices In constant prices* Aug.31, 99 July.31, 99 Aug.31, 99 July.31, 99 ------------------------- ---------- ----------- ---------- ----------- Gross gold and foreign exchange reserves, mln. USD 1625.1 1537.7 1680.8 1591.1 including: assets in hard currency 1149.1 1090.5 1149.1 1095.5 gold 431.0 447.1 486.6 500.6 Net gold and foreign exchange reserves, mln. USD ** 1074.4 975.9 1130.0 1029.3 Monetary base, bln. tenge 92.6 84.2 92.6 84.2 KZT/USD (at the end of the period) 132.0 132.2 83.8 83.8 Price of gold (for 1 Trojan ounce in USD) 254.60 256.75 287.45 287.45 ------------------------- ---------- ----------- ---------- ----------- * gold is shown at prices for the end of 1998 ($287.45 for 1 tr. ounce) ** net gold and foreign exchange reserves is the difference between gross reserves and obligations in hard currency.