Kazakhstan holds rates after inflation surge reaches ninth month

NEW YORK. KAZINFORM Kazakhstan's central bank kept its key interest rate unchanged after inflation soared for a ninth month to the fastest since 2008.

The base rate, set as the new benchmark after the central bank abandoned its currency peg in August, will remain at 15 percent after an unexpected 2 percentage-point cut in May, policy makers in Almaty said in a statement on Monday. All five economists surveyed by Bloomberg forecast no change.

“Adhering to a balanced rate policy, the National Bank took into account the risks to preserving financial stability,” it said in the statement. Such threats “reflect the need to maintain demand for tenge assets in the conditions of a possible spillover of funds from the money market into the currency market and ensuring price stability in the medium term.”

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