Adjustment of national currency should not affect ordinary people - Kazakh President

"The decision on the adjustment of Kazakhstan's national currency should not have negative impact on the ordinary people. It is crucial to avoid putting up prices and cut short speculation at the exchange points. Akims of all levels and all government bodies concerned should constantly monitor the situation," President Nazarbayev said. The Kazakh leader also called on tougher penalties on those who exploit the situation up to and including revocation of licenses. The Chairman of the National Bank said a six-month analysis of the state of global economy and KZ tenge relation to other currencies has been carried out. "The potential that we got back in February 2009 dramatically improved the competitiveness of our economy, it was doing well. But in 2012-2013 our potential petered out. The same situation could be observed in many developing countries where national currencies weakened in relation to the U.S. dollar. Presently, investors are leaving developing markets and what we see is adjustment of the situation in Turkey, Brazil and Russia," Mr. Kelimbetov noted. He also mentioned the changes in balance of payments. "Current balance remained positive for the most part of the year of 2013, however, it decreased fourfold compared to the previous year," he added. Prime Minister Serik Akhmetov pointed out the expert community and the Government are aware of a whole spectrum of uncertainties in the 2014 economic situation not only in Kazakhstan, but also in Russia, China and a bunch of developing countries. "We believe that given the world's economic situation the decision of the National Bank on the adjustment of national currency was timely. It is slated to improve macroeconomic indicators of Kazakhstan's national economy. It is also expected that the inflation rate will remain within 6 to 8 percent," Mr. Akhmetov stressed. In conclusion, the Head of State noted it is necessary to raise public awareness on the situation. "This was purely financial measure aimed at improvement of the economic situation at our enterprises. Our economy will gain extra profit and it will boost its further growth," Nursultan Nazarbayev said.