News Brief No. 00/35

News Brief: Kazakhstan Repays the IMF Ahead of Schedule

June 1, 2000

The National Bank of Kazakhstan has made an early repurchase of all outstanding balances owed to the Fund. The repurchase on May 24, 2000 amounted to SDR 295.8 million (about US$385 million). The balances were originally drawn between 1993 and 1998 under a variety of IMF arrangements and facilities in support of Kazakhstan's transition efforts. The repayment was made possible by recent favorable external developments, notably much higher prices for Kazakhstan's main exports, especially petroleum, and recovery of the economy from the shocks of the Asian and Russian crises in 1998/99. Kazakhstan's existing economic program, supported by an extended arrangement from the Fund in the amount of SDR 329.1 million (about US$453 million), approved on December 13, 1999, remains in place (see Press Release No. 99/60). Kazakhstan has not drawn under this new arrangement and is treating it as precautionary. Following the early repayment to the Fund, Kazakhstan's gross official reserves stood at US$1.8 billion.