The National Bank of Kazakhstan has formed the final assessment of the balance of payments for the first six months of 2022.

The current account of the balance of payments has formed with a surplus of USD 5.7 billion  compared to a USD 3.8 billion deficit in the first half of 2021. Final report on the balance of payments is published on the official website of the NBK.

The National Bank of Kazakhstan additionally informs about efforts carried out to expand coverage of balance of payments statistics in regard to certain types of foreign economic transactions of individuals not included in official international trade statistics.

An assessment was made of “gray” imports of passenger cars that are not being registered in Kazakhstan (with foreign number plates) by resident individuals based on information from the Unified Insurance Database of the Republic of Kazakhstan. For calculation purposes, information was used about residence of the insurer, term, nature of insurance policy (primary, repeated), trademark and year of production of a car at the time of its import into Kazakhstan.

Average market prices were calculated based on information from open sources, taking into account the year of production, age of the car at the time of its import and its brand.

Assessment was also made covering imports of goods purchased by individuals via foreign international websites. It is based on analysis of non-cash payments using Kazakhstan’s credit and debit cards in a foreign acquiring environment. Based on the findings, such transactions were classified by MCC codes (type of activity of a trade / service point) and volume of imports of goods purchased via the Internet was estimated.

Cumulative adjustment of imports in the first half of 2022 amounted to USD 759 million, including for cars – by USD 369 million, for e-commerce – by USD 390 million.

Revision of items in the balance of payments of the Republic of Kazakhstan has been applied to data since 2015. More detailed information about new estimates will be posted on the NBK website in the near future.

Additional details are available for the media representatives upon request:
+7 (7172) 77 52 10
e-mail: press@nationalbank.kz
www.nationalbank.kz