Ruble strengthens but loses trust in Kazakhstan

Tengrinews.kz – Despite a noticeable rise in its exchange rate, interest in the Russian ruble continues to decline in Kazakhstan, according to a report by Ranking.kz.

“Although the ruble has strengthened by more than one-third since the beginning of 2025, it still hasn’t regained public confidence. The currency remains restricted in circulation, used mainly for transactions with Russia, and is gradually losing significance in the domestic market — even in border regions,” the report states.

At the beginning of October, the ruble’s exchange rate stood at 6.66 tenge and fluctuated between 6.57 and 6.84 tenge throughout the month. As of October 22, the official rate was 6.62 tenge, down 0.6% from the start of the month but still 35.7% higher than at the beginning of the year.
Ruble sales collapse
In recent years, net sales of Russian rubles in Kazakhstan’s exchange offices have dropped sharply.

In 2021, sales reached 443.6 billion tenge (January–August).
In 2022, the figure fell to 267.4 billion tenge.
In 2023, volumes plummeted to just 10.3 billion tenge.
In 2024, seven out of twelve months showed negative net sales, and in 2025 — eight months in a row. During the first eight months of this year, Kazakh exchange offices bought 232.2 billion tenge more rubles than they sold, indicating low demand among the public.

The steepest declines occurred in the summer months — minus 40.5 billion tenge in June and minus 53.2 billion tenge in July. Analysts link this to an influx of Russian tourists to Kazakhstan, where they spend rubles amid growing geopolitical tensions at home.
Regional demand also falls
The largest negative balances were recorded in:

Astana: –211.4 billion tenge
Almaty: –32.5 billion tenge

In regional markets, sales also fell:

East Kazakhstan Region: down by more than half to 3.9 billion tenge
Akmola Region: down 38.6% to 2 billion tenge
Karaganda Region: down 19.8% to 4.6 billion tenge
North Kazakhstan Region: down 14.4% to 1.7 billion tenge

Why the ruble remains unwanted
According to National Bank Chairman Timur Suleimenov, there are no significant ruble reserves in Kazakhstan. Due to the negative trade balance with Russia and active border trade, rubles quickly flow back to Russia.
Economists describe the ruble as a “transit currency” — it enters Kazakhstan but is almost immediately converted into dollars or euros.
At the same time, the favorable exchange rate attracts Russian consumers, who travel to Kazakhstan for shopping and services, leading to an oversupply of rubles that locals rush to exchange.
Earlier, the National Bank reported that negative net ruble sales were observed throughout 2024, reaching –53.2 billion tenge in July 2025, almost ten times higher than a year before.