Page 11 - Kazakh Outlook 2022

the first half of 2021 (end-2020: $94bn), but have been resilient to the
2020 pandemic and oil price shocks, supported by the strong
investment returns and gold prices,” Fitch said.

Kazakhstan’s central bank decided in December to keep its policy rate
unchanged at 9.75% per annum with an interest rate corridor of +/–
1.00 percentage points.

The decision was made taking into account a slowdown in inflation -
which was achieved in part due to the increase in the policy rate in
November - along with growing uncertainty about the Omicron variant
of COVID-19 and its potential impact on inflationary processes, the
regulator said.

Kazakhstan is likely set to maintain its policy rate or raise it further in
the event of growing global pressure on prices emanating from the
pandemic.

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