Kazakhstan
On August 11, Moody's raised Kazakhstan's rating from Baa3 to Baa2 with a stable outlook. In their opinion, the factors that made it possible to upgrade the rating were the volume and efficiency of the use of the country's reserves, the low level of public debt, as well as the effectiveness of government measures to ensure macroeconomic stability. The agency praised the effectiveness of the countercyclical fiscal policy that helped to limit the contraction of Kazakhstan's real GDP last year.
On August 13, Fitch Ratings affirmed Kazakhstan's sovereign credit rating at 'BBB' with a stable outlook, noting the stimulating effect of the government's current macroeconomic policy due to increased spending to support business activity in the real economy and the SME sector.
Bonds of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Last week, the Ministry of Finance placed two bond issues for a total of KZT33.3bn (the previous week also 2 issues were placed for a total of KZT8bn). The greatest demand, which exceeded supply by 2.6 times, was for bonds with a shorter circulation period. The yield on 4-year bonds worth KZT23.2bn increased by 6 bps. The yield on T10.1bn 12-year bonds also slightly increased. It is also worth noting that during the auction, the application was received from only one participant. The planned additional placement of bonds in the amount of KZT10bn was declared as invalid.
In January-July 2021, the volume of trades in corporate bonds on KASE decreased by 6.8% yoy and amounted to KZT910.9 bn. The volume of trades in government securities for the same period decreased by 31% yoy and amounted to KZT2.048 bn.
Notes of the National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan. On August 9, an auction was held on the placement of NBK notes with a circulation period of 28 days for a total amount of KZT566.5bn with a yield of 9.225% (the yield on the issue of 28-day notes placed the previous week was at the level of 9.1906%).
The weekly net borrowing balance of the Ministry of Finance of Kazakhstan and the National Bank of Kazakhstan in the government securities market amounted to minus KZT589.9bn, the net borrowing balance of the National Bank was formed at the end of the week at minus KZT570.6bn.
Placements by corporate issuers. On August 11, Home Credit and Finance Bank JSC placed bonds with a maturity of one year in the volume of KZT1.4bn with a yield of 12.50% per annum. The share of institutional investors in the total volume of applications was 26.1%, while the share of other legal entities was 73.9%.
On August 13, Kazakhstan Stability Fund JSC placed 1-year bonds in the volume of KZT5.5 bn with a yield of 9.85% per annum. STBs accounted for almost 100% of the total amount of placement.
