Moscow and Astana interested in coordinating exchange rate policy

The Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, Karim Masimov, made a statement that the central banks of the republic and Russia are considering the possibility of transition to an agreed exchange rate policy.

"When the Bank of Russia switched to inflation targeting, and we did not, the competitiveness of Russian goods automatically increased, they became cheaper, and because we have free borders, they went to the Kazakh market, and we had difficulty, many companies even stopped," Karim Masimov said.

A leading researcher at the Institute of Applied Economic Research of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economics and Public Administration, Alexander Abramov, told Vestnik Kavkaza that the transition to an agreed exchange rate policy "is necessary, because in fact the tenge exchange rate is highly dependent on oil prices and the ruble exchange rate."

He stated that "there should be a wider exchange of information." "I hope that this cooperation does not include such measures as the direct intervention of regulators to support the national currency through intervention. It is about coordinating measures on the work with exporters in coordination of stages to reduce the key rate of the Bank of Russia. It is about the rate of decline in key rates, synchronization of these processes in some indirect methods - work with exporters, use of various financial instruments, in particular, support of the currency," the expert explained.

"It seems to me that if we still want fair cooperation with Kazakhstan, it is necessary to negotiate it. Because the rate of decline in rates, the volume of refinancing of the Russian banking system through the ruble instruments, repurchase agreements of non-marketable assets – all this directly affects the rate of the tenge. I think it is a reasonable measure, given the fact there will be a major change in the field of labor policy in the coming months," Alexander Abramov summed up.

Kazakh economist Pyotr Svoik, in his turn, said that such a move in the context of the process of Eurasian integration is logical. "We have already decided on a common customs space. A common currency area is an integral part of a common customs space. Therefore it is necessary to unify the exchange rates," he said.

"Both Kazakhstan and Russia should seek a joint model of both economic and political development, which is not separated from the world economy, but which is resting on the interests of its own national development and its own sources of development," Petr Svoik stressed.