ASTANA (TCA) — Banks in Kazakhstan will get 200 billion tenge (more than $610 million) from the Common Saving Pension Fund to on-lend the money to domestic businesses, Novosti-Kazakhstan news agency reported with reference to the country’s National Bank.
Following Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s order, Pension Fund assets will be invested in various directions this year, including 600 billion tenge (around $1.8 billion) to be channeled through second-tier banks and state-owned enterprises to support small and medium business and key economy sectors.
According to Deputy Chairman of the National Bank, Galimzhan Pirmatov, 200 billion tenge ($610.4 million) will be lent to banks at market interest rates, “taking into account their credit rating and other economic factors”. To date, 12 banks have already received a total of 62.2 billion tenge (around $190 million), he said.
“The National Bank has developed and approved a transparent and clear mechanism to fix (lending) limits which is based on the lending potential of banks and the structure of their assets and liabilities,” said the deputy chairman.
To date, 50 billion tenge (around $152 million) has already been channeled to finance state-run companies, and it is planned to allocate a total of 400 billion tenge (around $1.2 billion) for this sector. The remaining amount will be disbursed during the rest of this year, Pirmatov said.
