From: Justin Burke (JBurke@sorosny.org)
Date: Tue Jan 11 2005 - 14:08:08 EST
Kazakhstan increasing role in managing oil fund - chief banker
The Kazakh National Bank is increasing its role in managing the assets
of the National Fund which accumulates funds from the oil and other
export-oriented sectors of the economy, the bank's chairman, Anvar
Saydenov, has said.
"The point is not in decreasing the number of bodies managing the
National Fund, but in increasing the fund's assets under the National
Bank's management," Saydenov said in an interview, broadcast on the
Khabar TV channel's "Zheti Kun" weekly roundup programme on 9 January.
He said that the share of assets under the National Bank's management
had grown from about a third to about a half over the past two years.
The assets of the National Fund, which is sometimes called oil fund,
currently total 5.1bn dollars, 47 per cent of which or 2.4bn dollars is
under the direct management of the National Bank's monetary operations
department, Saydenov said.
He noted that major international banks and investment companies, such
as Citibank, Deutsche Bank and ABN Amro Bank were involved in managing
the fund's money. The main criterion for companies to manage the fund's
assets is the level of commission. "Almost all companies managing the
assets are receiving the lowest international level of commission,"
Saydenov said.
The reason for involving foreign bodies in managing the fund's assets is
because it is impossible for a central bank to manage such a great
amount of assets. On the other hand, when the National Fund was set up
in 2001 then the qualifications and skills of the bank's staff were
lower then they are now, he said.
He noted that the National Bank terminated contracts with foreign
managers of the assets if they made low returns on them. He said that
the average return stood at 8.69 per cent in 2003 and 5.89 per cent in
January-November 2004. The dollar-denominated assets account for 70 per
cent of the total at the moment, Saydenov said.
On transparency of the National Fund, Saydenov said that all the
information on it could be found at www.nationalfund.kz
Asked about the stabilizing and accumulating functions of the fund, the
National Bank's chairman said that the fund's stabilizing cushion had
been set at 600m dollars which could be quickly used by the budget in
case of problems on the world oil markets. The rest is being accumulated
for future generations, Saydenov said.
Saydenov's interview lasted for 15 minutes. No further processing.
Source: Khabar Television, Almaty, in Russian 1500 gmt 9 Jan 05
BBC Mon CAU 100105 km/nb
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