“Strengthened too much“: Zhumangarin spoke about the downsides of a strong tenge

Tengrinews.kz — The strengthening of the tenge has led to a decrease in Kazakhstan's budget revenues and exporter earnings, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Economy Serik Zhumangarin stated during a government briefing.
According to Zhumangarin, an overly strong tenge has become one of the factors impacting the country's economic indicators.

"The tenge exchange rate strengthened too significantly, resulting in a shortfall in import VAT. Exporters also saw reduced revenues due to the strong tenge," the official stated.

He explained that other circumstances also affected the economy. Specifically, due to an accident at Tengiz and attacks on the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, Kazakhstan failed to produce approximately six million tons of oil.
Furthermore, Kazakhstan is seeing a decline in consumer demand amid a targeted cooling of the lending market.
Zhumangarin noted that these factors must be taken into account when drafting economic forecasts.
Meanwhile, the government projects Kazakhstan's economy to grow by 5.3 percent, whereas the National Bank expects 3.5 percent. Zhumangarin attributed this discrepancy to the fact that the National Bank and international financial institutions typically maintain more conservative forecasts.
Earlier, Erulan Zhamaubaev, First Deputy Chairman of the National Bank, reported that over the first nine months of 2024, the national currency strengthened by 13.7 percent to 440.5 tenge per dollar.