The dollar, while still the world's largest currency, is gradually losing its monopoly position. Its share in global trade has declined, and interest among Kazakh citizens in buying cash US dollars has waned. However, it is too early to talk about global changes, reports the website infohub.kz.
The dollar's global monopoly is weakening: its share in world trade has fallen from 60% to 58%, and central banks are increasingly diversifying their reserves. According to OMFIF, 4% of regulators plan to reduce the share of the US currency in their reserves over the next 12-24 months. At the same time, interest in the euro, yuan, and other reserve currencies is growing. The trend toward gold is especially noticeable: 82% of central banks now hold physical gold, up from 71% a year ago. For 51% of regulators, the main reason is protection against geopolitical risks, notes the Telegram channel TENGENOMIKA.
Analysts stress that the dollar still holds the largest share in world trade at 58%, although a year ago it was 60%. This indicates that countries are actively diversifying their reserves amid current global economic conditions. "The world is not abandoning the dollar. It is reducing its dependence on it. This is precisely what is becoming the new standard for managing state reserves," experts note.
In Kazakhstan, the dollar remains one of the main savings instruments, but interest in it has notably declined. In May, demand for dollars fell to a year low, even though the exchange rate fluctuated in an attractive range of 460-470 tenge. Low demand is explained both by expectations of further depreciation and the unattractiveness of dollar deposits: the interest rate on them is only 1% per annum.
At the same time, dollar deposits rose by 5.19% in May 2026 month-on-month, while tenge deposits increased by only 1.93%. However, on an annual basis, dollar deposits grew only 2.79%, while tenge deposits surged 22.46%. Overall, in May, the population accumulated nearly 29.2 trillion tenge. Given the National Bank's high interest rate, Kazakhs increasingly prefer to keep money in tenge deposits.
Earlier, the National Bank explained the situation with the exchange rate, and analysts weighed in on whether the dollar would remain cheap. An expert also discussed what Kazakhs fail to consider when buying cash dollars.