National Bank of Kazakhstan says president's request to lower inflation to 4% in 2025 cannot be fulfilled

ALMATY. Nov 29 (Interfax) - The National Bank of Kazakhstan will not be able to accomplish the objective set by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to bring inflation down to 3-4% by 2025, said the chairman of the National Bank, Timur Suleimenov.

The president set this objective in 2022.

"As you may see, external and internal factors are changing. Therefore, it is impossible to lower inflation to 4% next year, and we have to admit it. As the dollar exchange rate has changed internal and external factors have also altered," Suleimenov said at a Friday briefing in Astana.

Inflation is now projected at 7% in 2025 and 5% in 2026.

"Therefore, we expect inflation to come in at 7% next year and we believe that we will be able to bring it down to 5% in 2026," he said.

The National Bank earlier revised upward the inflation outlook from 7.5% to 8-9% for 2024 and from 5.5-7.5% to 6.5-8.5% for 2025. However, the core inflation is expected to stabilize near 5% by 2026.