Starting October 1, 2026, Kazakhstan raised the recommended maximum rate on foreign currency savings deposits with terms over 12 months from 1% to 2.5% per annum.
The change applies to deposits opened or renewed after that date. Each bank sets its actual rate independently. For foreign currency deposits of exactly one year or less, the previous 1% cap remains in place.
According to economist Kanat Ospanov, tenge deposits remain more profitable given a stable exchange rate thanks to higher interest rates. However, the final return also depends on how the dollar’s exchange rate moves. Over a ten-year horizon (October 2016 – October 2026), a tenge deposit at a hypothetical 12% per annum would have yielded around 3.1 million tenge compared to 1.74 million tenge from a dollar deposit at 2.5% per annum, despite the tenge devaluing from 333.59 to 453.65 per dollar.