ALMAYTY (Interfax-Kazakhstan) – Chairman of the Presidium of the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs (CNE) Timur Kulibayev urged the National Bank to provide tenge liquidity and called for dialogue with Kazakh businesses.

“You are holding all long liquidity in the country in your hands. You have both the Centralized Accumulative Pension Fund and the National Fund, so all liquidity is in your hands. Pardon me, but where are we supposed to get liquidity, if not in the National Bank?!” Kulibayev asked the deputy chairman of the National Bank Kuat Kozhakhmetov at the Forum of Entrepreneurs.

“Of course, we can listen long enough to the reports of the National Bank on how it operates. However, Almaty Mayor Akhmetzhan Yesimov and entrepreneurs ask for trade liquidity. Can the National Bank do something for to liquidity to reappear? The second part of the question is the lending rate. Can the National Bank do something about it either?” NCE chairman said.

Kulibayev proposed that the National Bank use the NCE as a floor to build direct contacts with the market and talk to businesses.

Last February Governor of the National Bank of Kazakhstan Kairat Kelimbetov spoke about the tenge liquidity, de-dollarization of the Kazakh economy and the ruble. “How much tenge liquidity is needed in the short term – 3-6 months? Together with the banks we have calculated it to be between 500 bln ($2.7 bln) and 1 tln tenge ($5.4 bln)”, Kelimbetov said in a brief at the Central Communications Service headquarters in Astana. According to him, this amount will be covered through purchase of bonds of second-tier banks by the Single Pensions Fund which would provid more than 250 bln ($1.35 bln) tenge to banks through the Distressed Assets Fund. “60 bln tenge ($320 mln) will be provided through monetary and interest rate swap through the Development Bank of Kazakhstan, about 80 bln tenge ($430 mln) through KazAgro. Also we intend to make swaps with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Asian Development Bank to provide long-term and medium-term liquidity”, he said.

According to him, every day the banks are provided with around $2.5 bln in tenge at 15% rate percent. “We plan to lower the rate, we will expand collateral obligations and the volumes may also be increased”, Kelimbetov said.