Over the first nine months of 2026, the tenge strengthened by 13.7% against the dollar, reaching 440.5 tenge per dollar. Kazakhstan's National Bank attributes the move to increased foreign-currency supply amid high oil prices and an inflow of foreign investment into the country's securities, infohub.kz reports.
Speaking at a government meeting, National Bank Deputy Chairman Yerulan Zhamaubayev said the tenge had strengthened by 13.7% over the nine months of 2026, to 440.5 tenge per dollar. According to him, several factors contributed to this.
Among the main reasons, the deputy chairman cited an increase in the supply of dollars on the foreign-exchange market driven by high prices for oil and export goods, an inflow of foreign investment into Kazakhstan's government debt, which reached 2.6 trillion tenge, and monetary conditions.
At the same time, demand for foreign currency remained moderate. Since the start of the year, the National Bank has sold $2.8 billion from National Fund resources on the exchange. As part of operations mirroring gold purchases, 3.2 trillion tenge was withdrawn.
"The National Bank will continue to adhere to a flexible exchange rate regime, which allows the economy to adapt to external changes and prevents the accumulation of macroeconomic imbalances," Yerulan Zhamaubayev noted.
It was previously reported that the autumn regional economic review by the Eurasian Fund for Stabilization and Development (EFSD) projects the tenge's exchange rate against the US dollar at 523-587 tenge per dollar in 2027-2029.