In July, Kazakh citizens and businesses actively topped up their bank deposits, seeking to lock in high yields before interest rates start to decline. Deposits from individuals grew by 364 billion tenge to reach 28 trillion tenge, while deposits from non-bank legal entities increased by 402 billion tenge to 22.5 trillion tenge. However, the pace of growth slowed compared to June, reports infohub.kz.
From the start of the year to the end of July, individual deposits rose by 2.2 trillion tenge, indicating heightened interest in savings products. But in June, the increase was more substantial—829 billion tenge in a single month. In July, growth was driven solely by tenge-denominated deposits, which rose by 459 billion tenge, while foreign currency deposits fell by 94 billion tenge to 4.4 trillion tenge.
For legal entities, deposits also grew in July—by 402 billion tenge, bringing the year-to-date increase to 667 billion tenge. As with individuals, the growth was entirely due to tenge deposits, which increased by 460 billion tenge to 17.1 trillion tenge, while foreign currency deposits declined.
Clearly, depositors and businesses are rushing to take advantage of still-high rates, despite the National Bank's initial rate cuts. Kazakh banks have already started reducing deposit yields; for example, Eurasian Bank and ForteBank have adjusted their rates. Meanwhile, some products still offer yields of up to 19% per annum (APR).