Kazakh currency falls 23 percent after switch to free-float

Energy-rich Kazakhstan announced on Aug. 20 it was abandoning its currency band for a free-floating exchange rate, in a move that triggered a 23-percent fall in the value of the tenge against the U.S. dollar.

"The National Bank and the government have decided to implement a new monetary policy from August 20, 2015 based on an inflation-targeting regime, to cancel the trading band and move to a free-floating regime," Prime Minister Karim Massimov said at an Aug. 20 session of the government.

The decision comes amid bleak price forecasts for crude oil, Kazakhstan's linchpin export.

On Aug. 19, the tenge fell by close to five percent against the dollar, the biggest drop since the national bank ordered a shock 20-percent devaluation against the greenback last year.     

The ex-Soviet country's 75-year-old President Nursultan Nazarbayev said on Aug. 19 that future economic planning in the country should be adjusted to assume oil prices at $30-40 per barrel and that belt-tightening measures would also affect showy national projects.

"In the past years, we have built a lot, increased staffing and salaries. Now however, there is a lack of funds and in connection with this there will be strict limitations on new projects," Nazarbayev told top government officials.

"For this reason it is necessary to place a moratorium on various initiatives until 2018."
   
Benchmark Brent crude is trading at just under $50 per barrel and the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said last week prices will average less than $60 per barrel throughout 2016.

In addition to slumping prices for crude, which accounts for half of Kazakhstan's export, the national economy has been hit by falling demand in two key export...