The situation in the domestic money market depends on the situation in foreign markets – Reuters

Erlan Abdraimov, head of the Department of Supervision of Non-Banking Organizations of the National Bank of Kyrgyzstan, spoke about the current situation in the foreign exchange market.

On January 10, the National Bank made the first intervention of this year, putting up for sale 104 million 250 thousand US dollars. Is the deficit of US dollars in exchange offices now liquidated?

Currently, the situation on the domestic currency market depends on the situation on the foreign currency markets. However, some domestic commercial banks import cash dollars to the United States to meet the needs of the people in the required amount. In this case, the complexity of the supply chain of delivery influences the final cost.

It should be noted that cash and non-cash foreign currency transactions are carried out by commercial banks in various volumes, without any restrictions, at the request of customers. The National Bank monitors the situation on the currency market daily and conducts explanatory work to prevent violations.

Despite the temporary ban on exporting US dollars in cash from Kyrgyzstan, employees of exchange offices still complain about the lack of dollars. What can you say? What are the reasons?

Today, there is enough cash in banks and exchange offices, banks and exchange offices carry out foreign exchange transactions without any restrictions.

In accordance with the requirements of the normative legal acts of the National Bank, the sale and purchase of foreign currency is prohibited at the rate indicated on the information board. In the event of the availability of foreign currency, the foreign exchange market participant is obliged to carry out an unlimited sale of foreign currency in accordance with the requirements of the normative legal acts of the National Bank.

In the event that banks and/or exchange offices introduce unreasonable restrictions or sell foreign currency at a rate different from the exchange rate set on the information board, please record this fact with a photo or video and submit it at the National Bank. Each case will be examined separately, and when facts of violation of the legislation are revealed, appropriate measures will be applied.

Since the beginning of 2023, inspection checks of 25 exchange offices have been carried out. As a result of external monitoring, 34 orders were issued for violation of the legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic and normative legal acts of the National Bank, as well as for non-compliance with the requirements of the National Bank, the licenses of five stock exchanges offices have been suspended.

A fine was also imposed on two exchange offices – 55,000 soms each (the total amount is 110,000 soms).

What precautions have been taken vis-à-vis people holding a permit since the beginning of the year? In particular, how many people and how many soms?

In order to prevent violations of the requirements of the legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic and the normative legal acts of the National Bank, the National Bank regularly conducts unscheduled (raids) and scheduled inspection inspections of foreign exchange market participants.

Since the beginning of 2023, 12 checks have been carried out on persons carrying out foreign exchange transactions without the corresponding license of the National Bank, as a result of which a fine of 17.5 thousand soms has been imposed on 10 persons (the amount total was 175.0 thousand soms).

In addition, after the appearance of telegram channels offering cash currency exchange, the National Bank constantly monitored and took measures to identify the organizers and participants of these channels. Some telegram channels have been closed under the authority of the National Bank.

Unfortunately, the National Bank does not have the power to take investigative measures to bring the organizers of telegram channels to justice. In this regard, in 2022, the National Bank sent a number of letters to law enforcement agencies to consider the topic of compliance with legislation and bring the organizers of telegram channels to justice.