Demand for gold in Kazakhstan fell 10% in July with 111 kg sold - National Bank

ALMATY. Aug 22 (Interfax) - Kazakhstan-based banks and exchange offices sold 2,787 gold bars with a total weight of 111.1 kg in July 2023 or a decrease of 10% compared with the previous month, the National Bank said in a Tuesday press release.

In June 2023, the residents of Kazakhstan bought 2,791 gold bars, weighing 123.4 kg.

In May 2017, the National Bank launched a program for the sale and purchase of refined gold bars for individuals. Since 2017 Kazakh citizens have bought 135,183 gold bars totaling 4.6 tonnes in weight.

Gold is sold in 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100-gram bars. The most popular gold bars among individual buyers are 10-gram bars making up 26% of total sales or 34,526 bars sold since the launch of the program. These are followed by 5 gram bars - 30,034 bars sold or 23%; 100 gram bars - 27,626 bars or 21%; 20 gram bars - 24,327 bars or 18%; and 50 gram bars - 15,883 bars or 12%.

Gold bars are most in demand in the cities of Almaty - 1,275 bars or 46%, Shymkent - 756 bars or 27%, and Astana - 151 bars or 5%.

Since the launch of the program, the second-tier banks and the exchange offices have bought back 23,710 gold bars with a total weight of 623 kg or 18% of all sold bars.