The International Monetary Fund sent a delegation to Kazakhstan this week to discuss the impact of the economic crisis on Central Asia”s biggest economy, officials said on Thursday.
The World Bank has suggested Kazakhstan should consider a precautionary stand-by deal with the IMF to ensure additional money is available in an emergency but the oil-rich nation says it has enough state cash to fight the crisis.
Some analysts have speculated that the deepening crisis may force Kazakhstan to change its position.
The Kazakh Financial Supervision Agency said it did not discuss loans with the IMF during a meeting on May 5.
“We are not asking for IMF loans … This question was not discussed during the meeting,” an FSA spokesman said.
The FSA website said separately the two parties discussed the state of the financial industry and other issues.
The IMF delegation was also due to meet the central bank governor on Thursday, a central bank source said. The IMF office in Almaty declined to comment on this week”s discussions.
The IMF holds regular talks with members and then publishes its assessment of each country”s performance but its visits to crisis-hit emerging nations like Ukraine and Kazakhstan have come under close attention since the start of the credit crunch.
As the crisis tightened its grip on Kazakhstan, the country warned investors last month it could let its largest bank BTA and No.4 lender Alliance fail if creditors do not agree to restructure their debt.
BTA, nationalised earlier this year, has already defaulted on US$550 million in bilateral loans and stopped repaying principal on its wholesale borrowings.
The government has earmarked US$25 billion – or a quarter of gross domestic product – to fight the crisis and says it has plenty of resources to allocate more if needed. It has about US$19 billion worth of gold and foreign currency reserves.
