National Bank of Kazakhstan Chairman Timur Suleimenov, speaking at a briefing at the regulator, explained why the decision was made to cut the base rate to 15.75%, infohub.kz reports.
Today the Monetary Policy Committee of the National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan decided to set the base rate at 15.75% per annum with a corridor of +/- 1 percentage point. The main factor was slowing inflation.
"Annual inflation has been declining for the twelfth consecutive month, reaching 9.3% in September 2026, amid moderately tight monetary policy and favorable dynamics of the tenge exchange rate. Food inflation fell to 8.5% (9.5%) on the back of a more pronounced decline in fruit and vegetable prices, as well as slower growth in meat prices. Non-food inflation fell to 11.0% (11.4%) due to slower annual growth in fuel prices. Services inflation remained at 8.9%, with high growth rates in prices for unregulated services," Suleimenov said.
According to him, inflation is being held back by moderately tight monetary conditions, positive dynamics of the tenge exchange rate, liquidity regulation measures, including mirroring operations and higher minimum reserve requirements, as well as measures to regulate consumer lending.
Suleimenov added that one-year-ahead inflation expectations fell to 11.8% in September (12.1% in August).
"The continued decline in annual inflation and inflation expectations has created room for a base rate cut. The decision maintains the moderate tightness of monetary conditions needed to entrench disinflation and return inflation to the 5% target in 2028," the National Bank chief explained.
Another factor, he said, is sustained economic growth: in January-September 2026, GDP grew by 4.2% on the back of non-commodity sectors, primarily construction, manufacturing and transport.
The next scheduled decision by the Monetary Policy Committee of the National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the base rate will be announced on December 4, 2026, at 12:00 Astana time.