As of December 19, 1999 net gold and foreign currency reserves of Kazakhstan reached $1.403 bln

/IRBIS, Dec.20, 99/ - The National Bank of Kazakhstan informs that gross gold and currency reserves of Kazakhstan reached $1,882.6 mln in current prices as of December 19, 1999 compared with $1,838.1 mln as of December 10, 1999. Net gold and currency reserves of Kazakhstan as of December 19 at $1,403.2 mln, $1,357.5 mln increase from December 10. National Bank informs that "$44.5 mln increase in international reserves was due to growth in currency reserves by $44.0 mln (mainly by purchases in domestic currency market) and gold reserves by $0.5 mln". Following is the table which shows international reserves of the National Bank of Kazakhstan and the monetary base as of December 19, 1999, and contains data for December 10: In current prices In real terms* ---------------------- ---------------------- Dec.19, 99 Dec.10, 99 Dec.19, 99 Dec.10, 99 ----------------------------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- Gross international reserves, mln USD 1,882.6 1,838.1 1,896.3 1,852.2 including: assets in hard currency 1,379.6 1,335.6 1,379.6 1,335.6 gold 503.0 502.5 516.7 516.6 Net international reserves, mln USD ** 1,403.2 1,357.5 1,416.9 1,371.6 Money base, bln tenge 106.1 98.7 106.1 98.7 USD/KZT(at the end of period) 138.25 138.35 83.8 83.8 Price of gold (for 1 troy ounce, USD) 279.85 279.60 287.45 287.45 ----------------------------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- * Price of gold is shown for the end of 1998 ($287.45 per 1 troy ounce); ** Net international reserves is a difference between gross reserves and liabilities in hard currency.