Tag Archives: reserves

Georgia sells US dollar reserves to prop up lari currency

Reserves drop in Kazakhstan

NOV. 10 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s Central Bank said its international reserves fell by 2.9% in October to $30.5b, the first decline in four months. Since the beginning of the year, reserves have grown by 13.8%, the Central Bank said. Last year the Central Bank spent a large proportion of its reserves trying to prop up its currency. This year, though, under a new Central Bank chief, the strategy has changed and the Bank has stepped away from intervention.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 304, published on Nov. 11 2016)

Azerbaijan’s reserves fall, again

NOV. 1 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s foreign reserves fell by 3.1% in October to $4b, the Central Bank said in a statement. At the end of 2015, foreign currency holdings amounted to $5b. This year alone, Azerbaijan used up 20% of its reserves. Over the past two years, sustained low oil prices forced the government to intervene in the currency market and prop up the economy. In 2015, reserves shrank by 60%.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 303, published on Nov. 4 2016)

Azerbaijan’s Central Bank reserves collapse

JAN. 22 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The reserves of Azerbaijan’s Central Bank fell by 60% in 2015 to $5b, it said, highlighting just how much cash it had burned through trying to prop up its ailing manat currency. The Central Bank was forced to devalue the manat twice last year as oil prices stayed stubbornly low. The manat is now worth around 50% of its value of a year ago.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 265, published on Jan. 29 2016)

Kyrgyzstan CBank changes rules

DEC. 9 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan’s Central Bank changed the reserve requirements for its commercial banks to reflect the less stable state of the Kyrgyz som. It reduced the proportion of minimum reserves held in som by 4.5% to 4% of a bank’s total reserves and also increased the requirement to keep 12.5% of the bank’s cash in foreign currency, up 2.5%.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 260, published on Dec. 11 2015)

Azerbaijan’s Central Bank reserves drop

DEC. 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – In an effort to prop up its manat currency, Azerbaijan’s Central Bank said it has spent nearly 60% of its currency reserves. Azerbaijan’s Central Bank held $6.8b at the end of October, down from $13.8b on Jan. 1. Azerbaijan devalued the manat by a third in February but this hasn’t stopped the slide.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 259, published on Dec. 4 2015)

Kyrgyz Central Bank to sell diamonds

NOV. 24 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Kyrgyz Central Bank is spending so much cash trying to defend its som currency that it is considering selling off its stock of diamonds.

Tolkunbek Abdygulov, the Central Bank chief, said that the bank had already sold large amounts of gold and that silver and diamonds were next.

“We started selling gold this year, next year are going to add silver bullion to this and have discussed the options of even selling diamonds,” he said according to media reports. Mr Abdygulov didn’t say whether Kyrgyzstan held substantial diamond reserves or not.

The Kyrgyz Central Bank has intervened 22 times this year in the currency market. This week it spent another $7m defending the som which at one point fell nearly 5% to an all-time low of around 79/$1. After the Central Bank intervention it rose back to around 74/$1.

The Central Bank’s reserves have fallen from $2.2b at the start of the year to about $1.7b now.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 258, published on Nov. 27 2015)

Markets: Central Bank reserves in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Azerbaijan

SEPT. 9 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Perhaps the most important feature of news and data from the region’s money markets this week was details about the various Central Banks’ gold and currency reserves.

Kazakhstan’s Central Bank said it had increased its reserves in August to $29.1b. Kazakhstan has amassed reserves over the past 3 months after spending around $400m in April to contain the effects of the regional financial crisis.

In Kyrgyzstan, the Central Bank’s reserves hit $2b, according to the Central Bank, back up to the levels of August 2014.

In Baku it was another story. The Central Bank has been spending ferociously since it devalued its manat currency by a third in February. According to the state-linked Trend news agency, the Azerbaijani Central Bank spent 14% of its foreign currency reserves in August. In the last year, Azerbaijan has spent half its foreign currency reserves trying to defend the manat.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 247, published on Sept. 11 2015)

Armania’s currency reserves increase

JULY 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia’s foreign currency reserves increased by $100m in May, the Central Bank told media. The increase shows that pressure on the dram has reduced. Last year, the Central Bank spent a third of its reserves defining the dram.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 238, published on July 2 2015)

Kyrgyz reserves increase

JUNE 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan’s Central Bank has been steadily rebuilding its gold and foreign currency reserves since reaching a low in April, media reported. Last year Kyrgyzstan’s Central Bank spent frantically as it tried to prop up its falling currency.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 238, published on July 2 2015)