On Wednesday the National Bank of Kazakhstan devalued national currency by 25% - up to 150 tenge for 1 U.S. dollar from 120 tenge, said Grigory Marchenko, the Head of the National Bank at the press conference.

“Since 4 February, the National Bank will raise the currency exchange rate to a new level. The proposed exchange rate will amount to 150 tenge for $1, with a fluctuations plus-minus 3% or 5 tenge,” said Marchenko.

Yesterday the national currency exchange rate at KASE stock exchange amounted to 120 tenge, and in the morning session it was 149 tenge.

Earlier, Bakhyt Sultanov, the Minister of Economy and Budget Planning noted that over the long term devaluation of tenge will not exceed 10%.

Sultanov acknowledged that sharp devaluation would exacerbate the problem for banking system to comply with external commitments. On the other hand, sharp devaluations in neighboring countries will reduce competitiveness for products of Kazakhstan’s enterprises.

The exchange rate set in the national budget amounts to 123.5 tenge per $1.