2019 Article IV Consultation-Press Release; and Staff Report

Abstract

2019 Article IV Consultation-Press Release; and Staff Report

Relations with the Fund

(As of October 31, 2019)

Membership status:

The Republic of Kazakhstan joined the IMF on July 15, 1992. It accepted the obligations of Article VIII, Sections 2, 3, and 4 in 1996.

General Resources Account:

article image

SDR Department:

article image

Outstanding Purchases and Loans: None

Latest Financial Arrangements (in millions of SDR):

article image

Projected Payments to Fund: None

Safeguards Assessments: Not applicable.

Exchange Rate Arrangements: Kazakhstan’s de jure exchange rate arrangement is free floating, and its de facto exchange rate arrangement is classified as floating. Policy interventions by the National Bank of Kazakhstan (NBK) on the foreign exchange market are not systematic and are triggered exclusively by the need to smooth out sharp destabilizing fluctuations. The NBK started publishing monthly data on net foreign exchange interventions on a regular basis from 2016. Kazakhstan has accepted the obligations of Article VIII, Sections 2, 3, and 4, and maintains an exchange system free of restriction on the making of payments and transfers for current international transactions.

Article IV Consultation:

Kazakhstan is on the standard 12-month consultation cycle. The last consultation was concluded by the IMF Executive Board on September 12, 2018 (see IMF Country Report No. 18/277).

FSAP Participation and ROSCS:

Kazakhstan first participated in the Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) in 2000. FSAP updates were conducted in 2004, 2008, and 2014, with the latest Financial Sector Stability Assessment issued in August 2014 (see IMF Country Report 14/258). A fiscal transparency ROSC report was published in 2003, and a report on the update of the data ROSC was published in 2008.

AML/CFT Assessment:

Kazakhstan’s AML/CFT framework has been assessed against the AML/CFT standard, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) 40+9 Recommendations. The evaluation was conducted by the Eurasian Group on money laundering and financing of terrorism (EAG), the FATF-style regional body of which Kazakhstan is a member. The final mutual evaluation report was adopted in 2011. The report indicated that the main sources of criminal proceeds in Kazakhstan were crimes related to fraud and abuse of public office. The evaluators found that Kazakhstan had a relatively comprehensive AML/CFT framework in place, but that deficiencies remained, notably with respect to customer due diligence and reporting of suspicious transactions. Kazakhstan is tentatively scheduled to undergo its next AML/CFT assessment by the EAG in April 2020.

Technical Assistance and Training:

Kazakhstan has received IMF TA and training in all areas of economic policy during 1993–2019. The Fund has also provided resident or peripatetic advisors to the NBK, the Committee on Statistics, the Ministry of Finance, and the former Financial Supervision Agency. Other international agencies and governments also provide TA (e.g., the World Bank, EBRD, UNDP, ADB, OECD, USAID). The following summarizes Fund TA to Kazakhstan since 2010.

Monetary and Capital Markets Department

IMF TA has enabled progress in several monetary and capital markets areas, including monetary and exchange rate policy and operations, central bank accounting, payments system reform, central bank organization and management, banking legislation, banking supervision, statistics, and money-market development. Recent missions have included:

  • 1. 2009–12: Bank stress testing—initial mission in 2009, followed by expert visits in 2009–12.

  • 2. November 2010: Reducing nonperforming loans in the banking system (joint with LEG).

  • 3. February 2013–14: Resolving problem assets, including posting of a long-term expert to the Problem Loans Fund (financed by the Japanese government).

  • 4. November 2014: Enhancing the monetary policy framework.

  • 5. March 2015: Liquidity forecasting.

  • 6. March-April 2015: Enhancing the monetary policy framework.

  • 7. June-July 2015: Modeling and forecasting.

  • 8. August 2015: Monetary and exchange rate policy and operations.

  • 9. November 2015: Monetary and exchange rate policy and operations.

  • 10. June 2016: Monetary and exchange rate policy and operations.

  • 11. July 2016: Banking issues.

  • 12. April 2018: Management of distressed assets.

  • 13. April 2018: Foreign exchange operations.

  • 14. November 2018: Forecasting and Policy Analysis System.

  • 15. August 2019: Forecasting and Policy Analysis System.

Fiscal Affairs Department

The IMF Fiscal Affairs Department has given advice to Kazakhstan in revenue administration and public financial management, including treasury operations, accounting, IT systems, and the introduction of a social safety net.

  • 1. 2011–17: TA by IMF regional advisor on PFM issues.

  • 2. May 2014: Fiscal risk management, IPSAS and accrual accounting.

  • 3. September-October 2014: Accrual accounting and reporting for tax and customs revenues.

  • 4. May-June 2015: Accrual budgeting and public-private partnership (PPP) issues.

  • 5. April-May 2019: Accrual budgeting.

  • 6. September 2019: Improving Tax Compliance Risk Management.

Statistics

  • 1. April 2011: BOP statistics.

  • 2. July 2013: Government finance statistics.

  • 3. November 2014: Government finance statistics.

  • 4. April 2015: Monetary and financial statistics.

  • 5. June 2015: National accounts statistics.

  • 6. August 2015: External sector statistics.

  • 7. January 2017: National accounts statistics.

  • 8. April 2018: Government finance statistics.

  • 9. October 2018: National accounts statistics.

  • 10. September 2019: Government finance statistics.

Legal Department

  • 1. April 2010: Anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (jointly with the World Bank and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime).

  • 2. November 2010: Reducing nonperforming loans in the banking system (joint with MCM).

  • 3. July 2011: Bankruptcy legislation.

Training

Officials from Kazakhstan have participated in IMF courses and workshops in Washington, at the Joint Vienna Institute, and in the region in macroeconomic management, monetary and exchange policy and operations, central bank communications, budgetary expenditure control, financial programming, taxation, and statistics.

Local Office

The IMF maintains a local office in Almaty.

Relations with Other International Financial Institutions

World Bank: https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/kazakhstan

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development: https://www.ebrd.com/kazakhstan.html

Asian Development Bank: https://www.adb.org/countries/kazakhstan/main

Statistical Issues

(As of November 2019)

article image
article image

Kazakhstan: Table of Common Indicators Required for Surveillance

(As of November 29, 2019)

article image

Any reserve assets that are pledged or otherwise encumbered should be specified separately. Also, data should comprise short-term liabilities linked to a foreign currency but settled by other means as well as the notional values of financial derivatives to pay and to receive foreign currency, including those linked to a foreign currency but settled by other means.

Both market-based and officially-determined, including discounts rates, money market rates, rates on treasury bills, notes, and bonds.

Foreign, domestic bank, and domestic nonbank financing.

The general government consists of the central government (budgetary funds, extra budgetary funds, and social security funds) and state and local governments.

Including currency and maturity composition.

Includes external gross financial asset and liability positions vis-à-vis nonresidents.

Daily (D); weekly (W); monthly (M); quarterly (Q); annually (A); irregular (I); and not available (NA).

Reflects the assessment provided in the update of the data ROSC published in February 2008, based on the findings of the mission that took place during November 29–December 13, 2006 for the dataset corresponding to the variable in each row. The assessment indicates whether international standards concerning concepts and definitions, scope, classification/sectorization, and basis for recording are fully observed (O); largely observed (LO); largely not observed (LNO); not observed (NO); and not available (NA).

Same as footnote 8, except referring to international standards concerning (respectively) source data, assessment of source data, statistical techniques, assessment and validation of intermediate data and statistical outputs, and revision studies.