With the approval of the State Council, on December 14, 2014, the PBC renewed the Bilateral Local Currency Swap Agreement and signed the Agreement on the Organization of Settlements and Payments of the Chinese Yuan and Kazakh Tenge, with the National Bank of Kazakhstan in Astana. The size of the renewed swap facility is 7 billion yuan/200 billion KZT. The agreement is valid for three years and can be extended with mutual consent. The Agreement on the Organization of Settlements and Payments renders it possible to extend the local currency settlements from the border trade to the general trade. Entities in both countries are free to settle their cross-border transactions either in freely convertible currencies, the RMB, or Kazakh Tenge.
The above measures will help deepen monetary and financial cooperation between the two countries, facilitate bilateral trade and investment, safeguard regional financial stability. The signing of the agreements indicates that China-Kazakhstan financial cooperation has entered a new phase.
