Kazakh tenge seen weakening amid pandemic concerns: Reuters Poll

ALMATY (Reuters) – The Kazakh tenge is likely to weaken against the dollar this month against a background of concerns about the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the global economy, according to a Reuters poll.

Four out of seven participants in the poll, which was carried out between Aug. 27 and Sept. 1, expect the currency to depreciate this month, while three analysts saw it stable.

The 12-month outlook was also bearish, with five out of seven analysts forecasting a weaker tenge.

The oil-exporting Central Asian nation’s currency has lost 9.3% against the dollar this year but remained relatively stable around 420 per dollar throughout August.

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev urged the country’s central bank and its financial regulators on Tuesday to use monetary policy to support economic growth and not just prop up the tenge.

Tokayev said in his annual address that the tenge’s volatility hindered investment and instructed financial regulators to make it more appealing to investors.

The central bank has earlier warned it expected the former Soviet republic’s current account to turn negative in the second half of this year, putting pressure on the exchange rate.

(Reporting by Mariya Gordeyeva; Writing by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by William Maclean)