Kazakhstan's central bank hikes key interest rate by 100 bps
Adds comments from central bank governor in paragraphs 3-4
ALMATY, Nov 29 (Reuters) -Kazakhstan's central bank raised its benchmark interest rate to 15.25% on Friday from 14.25% in response to a sharp weakening of the local tenge KZT= currency, which tracks the Russian rouble.
In a statement rescheduled to coincide with the opening of foreign exchange trading on the local bourse, the central bank said it would consider further monetary policy tightening at upcoming meetings.
The tenge hit an all-time low against the U.S. dollar this week, passing the 500-per-dollar mark, and the central bank has sold $1 billion in foreign currency on the local market during interventions since Nov. 16, Governor Timur Suleimenov said.
He said the regulator planned no further interventions, but was prepared to resume them if volatility returned.
The tenge strengthened to around 509 per dollar on Friday, after closing at 512 per dollar the previous day.
Russia is one of Kazakhstan's biggest trading partners and the tenge often follows the movements of the rouble, which tumbled this week.
The central bank said it has slightly reduced its economic growth outlook for 2025-2026 due to a lower expected oil price, and raised the inflation forecast for the same period.
Reporting by Mariya Gordeyeva; Writing by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Christopher Cushing, Jacqueline Wong and Sherry Jacob-Phillips
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