Growing rate differential may support Kazakh tenge

Updated 21 Oct, 2019

Five out of nine participants in the poll, which was carried out Sept. 30 to Oct. 4, predicted that the currency would gain this month. Two analysts saw it trading unchanged at about 389 per dollar, and two said it would slip.

The 12-month outlook was bearish, with all nine analysts forecasting a weaker tenge. The Central Asian nation's currency has slid 1.3% against the dollar so far this year.

Kazakhstan's central bank hiked its policy rate in early September, giving the tenge a brief boost, but the currency then fell with prices of crude oil, a major export, when they dropped after a short-lived spike on Saudi Arabian output disruption. "In the medium term, the expected negative impact on the exchange rate from slowing global trade and investment will be partly offset by the soft monetary conditions in the United States and the euro zone," said Aigul Berdigulova, an analyst with the Eurasian Development Bank.

Copyright Reuters, 2019

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