In December, the tenge depreciated by 2.5%, reaching 525.10 tenge per dollar. The average daily trading volume on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange slightly decreased from 262 to 254 million dollars, with a total volume of 5.3 billion dollars.
The National Bank sold 900 million dollars from the National Fund to support the republican budget. This accounted for 17% of all currency operations for the month, or about 43 million dollars per day. These sales were conducted evenly to avoid impacting the market. In January 2025, the National Bank plans to sell between 750 and 850 million dollars from the fund.
By the end of 2024, the share of foreign currency assets in the Unified National Pension Fund (ENPF) was slightly over 40%. There were no dollar purchases for the pension fund in December, and none are planned for January 2025 either.
In the domestic market, there was high demand for currency in December amid limited supply. To stabilize the situation and prevent sharp fluctuations in the exchange rate, the National Bank conducted interventions, selling 307.6 million dollars.
The future dynamics of the tenge's exchange rate will depend on market expectations, tax payments, the global economy, and the geopolitical situation. The National Bank continues to adhere to a regime of free exchange rate formation to avoid accumulating economic risks and to preserve foreign exchange reserves.