Kelimbetov: Pension fund to get back assets with interest

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ASTANA. KAZINFORM Kairat Kelimbetov, Governor of the Astana International Financial Center, Ex-Chairman of the National Bank of Kazakhstan, has promised to return the pension assets of the Kazakhstani people together with the interest thereon from the International Bank of Azerbaijan, he told Bota Zhumanova, Head of the Supervisory Board of Non-Governmental Foundation "Financial Freedom", and Dossym Satpayev, political analyst.

"It's like in that joke, when parents-in-law came for a visit, and spoons disappeared after they left. Then, it turned out that the spoons were found, but the unpleasant aftertaste remained. Using this anecdote I would like to say that the spoons are in their place. Due to this, the whole ground of the discussion should change. The money will fully return to the Unified Pension Savings Fund according to a special scheme. Now, the main debtor will be the government of Azerbaijan. It's as if in October 2014 we bought Eurobonds with a 4 percent interest rate for 18 years," Kairat Kelimbetov said.

"KZT 40 billion in October 2014. What happened to them after devaluation in 2015-2016? The same amount in tenge remained. In dollar terms, it is completely different. The dollars and the interest will fully return. All the money, i.e. $250 million with interest, will return as if nothing happened. In the period of 15 years. But, if to calculate in tenge terms, it will return even to much higher extent after 15 years," he added.

According to him, in October 2014, over 45 billion tenge was invested in the IBA, but not 79 billion at the rate of KZT180 for a dollar. "Therefore, $250 million was bought. In October 2014, this money was protected from the devaluations. And they have already begun pay it. As of today, $50 million coupon payments have already returned. At today's rate it is KZT17bn. That is, we invested 45 and have returned 17, over a third. For now, the Azerbaijani government said to return all the remaining amount to us according to that scheme," Kairat Kelimbetov said.

He recalled that on May 23, during a meeting in London, the creditors offered three restructuring options: reducing the principal debt by a certain percent of payment over a certain period, extending payments for a short period, and changing old bonds for new ones of the International Bank of Azerbaijan. "In the first two cases, the swapping will be into the eurobonds of the Azerbaijani Government or Ministry of Finance. It is very important that the borrower changes. In this case, I think we are satisfied with the second option," he said.

Kairat Kelimbetov also said that the purpose he joined the Board of Directors of the Unified Pension Fund is the only one - to fully return the assets invested in the bonds of the Azerbaijani bank. "And they will be returned," he reminded.

 

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