BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 10. Kazakhstan’s international reserves, including foreign-currency assets of the National Fund, increased by $9.4 billion to $138.8 billion at the beginning of September, the Kazakhstan Association of Financiers (AFK) said.

According to the association, the increase was driven by growth in the gross international reserves of the National Bank of Kazakhstan and the assets of the National Fund.

The weighted average USD/KZT exchange rate at Wednesday’s trading session was 456.61 tenge per US dollar, up 2.22 tenge, with trading volume increasing by $419.6 million to $796 million.

“Such dynamics could be related to the needs of Kazakh companies to make payments under import contracts, as well as to repay and service existing external liabilities. Further growth in the US dollar exchange rate could be limited by increased foreign currency sales as part of the National Bank’s operations and persistently high real interest rates, which support the attractiveness of tenge-denominated instruments for local and foreign investors,” the AFK said.

AFK noted that the National Bank’s gross international reserves increased by 11.4% in July to $70.6 billion.

The increase was driven by a rise in the gold portfolio to $55.8 billion, up 15.8%, which offset a 2.5% decline in foreign-currency assets to $14.8 billion. The latter include funds of second-tier banks held in accounts and deposits with the National Bank. Meanwhile, the National Fund’s assets increased by 3.2% to $68.2 billion.

“Overall, the country’s international reserves, including the National Fund’s foreign-currency assets, amounted to $138.8 billion at the beginning of September, an increase of $9.4 billion,” the AFK said.

The Kazakhstan Association of Financiers brings together more than 130 financial market participants, including banks, insurance companies, mortgage and leasing organizations, microfinance organizations and pawnshops, the Unified Accumulative Pension Fund, professional securities market participants, auditing and consulting companies, educational institutions and media outlets.