Foreign Exchange Market  

(April 2007) 

In April, excess supply of foreign currency remained at the foreign exchange market because of the increase in receipts of deposits, money transfers and funds from exports of goods and services to the banking system. In order to smooth market conditions, the National Bank actively conducted operations on buying US dollars during the month, and considerably increased their volume. As a result, the average weighted dollar rate at the foreign exchange auctions remained stable during the month.  

In April, the average weighted rate of the US dollar at the interbank foreign exchange auctions remained at the prior month’s level and was Som 38.0500 per US dollar at the end of the month. The official exchange rate of dollar also did not change during the reporting month and was Som 38.0500 per US dollar at the end of April. 

The total volume of transactions at the foreign exchange auctions increased by 18.5 percent up to US$ 41.5 million in April. At the same time, the volume of operations of the National Bank on buying US dollars at the interbank foreign exchange market increased by 2.5 times and amounted to US$ 29.9 million. The volume of transactions among commercial banks reduced by 49.7 percent and totaled US$ 11.6 million. 

During April, the dollar rate in exchange offices fluctuated in the range of Som 37.81-38.0 per US dollar. The selling rate of the US dollar in exchange offices reduced by 0.3 percent to Som 37.8228 per US dollar. At the same time, it was lower, on average, by Som 0.15 per month than the average weighted rate at the interbank foreign exchange auctions. The average daily deviation of the dollar selling rate in exchange offices remained at 0.05 percent, and the average margin on operations for buying/selling dollars reduced to 0.30 percent.  

The Euro rate in exchange offices, similar to its changes at the external markets, mainly, strengthened during the month and fluctuated in the narrow range during the last decade of April. During the month, the selling rate of Euro in exchange offices increased by 2.0 percent and was Som 51.7697 per Euro. The average deviation of the euro selling rate reduced from 0.10 percent to 0.8 percent, and the average margin on buying/selling operations increased from 0.33 percent to 0.44 percent.  

The selling rate of the Russian Ruble in exchange offices increased in the first half of the month and fluctuated in the narrow band in the second half of the month. During the month, it increased by 1.13 percent up to Som 1.48 per Ruble. The average daily deviation of the selling rate of the Russian Ruble increased from 0.07 percent to 0.10 percent than in the prior month, and the average margin also increased from 0.65 to 0.82 percent during the month.  

The selling rate of Kazakh Tenge in exchange offices, mainly, increased during April. The selling rate of Kazakh Tenge in exchange offices strengthened by 2.3 percent and was Som 0.313 per Tenge at the end of the month. At the same time, the average daily deviation of Tenge rate decreased from 0.15 percent to 0.13 percent, and the average margin increased from 0.59 percent to 0.68 percent during the month.  

In April, the total volume of operations on buying and selling foreign currency in exchange offices amounted to Som 1746.2 million, having reduced by 6.5 percent than in the prior month. At the same time, the reduction in the volume of transactions was noted in all major currencies, except for other currencies. As a result, shares of operations with Dollars increased by 67.5 percent, while the shares of transactions with Euro, Russian Rubles and Kazakh Tenge reduced to 10.1, 10.8 and 11.2 percent, accordingly. The share of transactions with other currencies remained at a level of 0.5 percent in the structure of foreign exchange operations.