On Tuesday, December 3, the official exchange rate of the tenge on the currency exchange reached a two-year low. This was reported by the Central Bank.
In just one day, the Kazakhstani currency depreciated by 67 tiyin. It is currently valued at 24.23 soms — marking the lowest point since January 5, 2023. Since May 13, the tenge has fallen against the Uzbek som by more than 16.2%.
Meanwhile, the US dollar has decreased by 13.67 soms, bringing it down to 12,838.33 soms. The euro lost 70.92 soms, totaling 13,498.22 soms. Among major currencies, the ruble has appreciated, approaching the 120 som mark.
Amid the weakening of the national currency, the National Bank of Kazakhstan raised the key interest rate by 1 percentage point to 15.25% per annum. Additionally, the regulator has conducted currency interventions to support the tenge.
According to the Minister of National Economy of Kazakhstan, Nurlan Baibazarov, “the adjustment of the national currency's exchange rate is solely due to the influence of fundamental external factors.”
“The first factor is the global strengthening of the dollar index in recent months. The second factor is related to a slight decline in world oil prices. And the last, but not least, factor is the weakening of the Russian ruble. Considering that Russia is our major trading partner, fluctuations in the ruble can impact the tenge exchange rate,” the official is quoted by Forbes Kazakhstan.
Last week, the ruble reached multi-year lows against both the dollar and the som. On Friday, the Central Bank set the exchange rate of the Russian currency at 116.73 soms — the lowest since March 24, 2022. Since June 20, the ruble has depreciated against the som by nearly a quarter. The official exchange rate of the ruble against the dollar has approached 110.
Previously, Spot reported on how the official dollar exchange rate changed in November.