Kazakhstan has followed the path of Russia in the sphere of currency regulation, chairman of the National Bank Kairat Kelimbetov said. According to him, Russia did not just move to a flexible exchange rate formation of the national currency, but also conducted preliminary work on de-dollarization.
"The Central Bank of Russia prepared for 5-7 years. There was a lot of work carried out on de-dollarization. The level of foreign currency deposits in the banking system in Russia does not exceed 20-25%," the head of the Kazakh National Bank noted, adding that Kazakhstan is still "yet to follow" this way. And if the transition to a floating rate of the tenge is already done, there is still to be "very serious work" in terms of de-dollarization, he believes.
According to National Bank data, in June 2015 the share of fixed-term bank deposits in foreign currencies amounted to 72%.
The process of de-dollarization takes a long time, Kelimbetov predicts, at the same time calling de-dollarization "inevitable."
"It is changes in legislation, it is the financial literacy of the population. In the next 3-5 years, at least, it should happen," TASS quoted him as saying.
