In March, Kazakhstani residents reduced net purchases of cash dollars at exchange offices to 106.6 billion tenge, down 21.7% from February's 136 billion tenge. According to the National Bank, this figure was 150.3 billion tenge in January, reports Todayinfo.
On the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE), the dollar weakened by 4.3% in March. However, current figures are significantly lower than at the end of last year: net purchases were 322.8 billion tenge in December and 234.7 billion tenge in November. In March last year, this figure was 73.9 billion tenge.
Due to the strengthening of the tenge, demand for cash dollars has been declining since the beginning of the year. Conversely, demand for the ruble increased: net purchases in March amounted to 7.4 billion tenge, seven times more than in February. In March, the tenge strengthened against the ruble by 9.3% to 5.84 tenge/ruble, but later the ruble recovered to 6.15 tenge.
Demand for the euro also rose: net purchases in March were 12 billion tenge, compared to 10.5 billion in February and 8.3 billion in January. However, these figures are lower than at the end of last year (14.2 billion in November and 14.7 billion in December).
