Kazakh Finance Minister Yerolan Zamabayev said that the Government of Kazakhstan has not instructed local banks to refuse transactions from Russia.
His remarks came in response to a report in the Russian newspaper Fedomosti earlier this week, which claimed, citing market sources, that a number of Kazakh banks were rejecting ruble payments made by Russian importers in order to avoid the risk of secondary Western sanctions.
While Jamaobev did not refute claims that banks were already blocking ruble transactions, he said the decisions were made by lenders without any government guidance.
The source of the Vedomosti newspaper said in one of the top 50 Russian banks that his bank had recorded dozens of ruble payments after Kazakh banks had refused since the beginning of this year, including from Halyk Bank, Fortebank, RBK Bank and Bereke. The source noted that in most cases these banks invoke domestic policy as a basis for non-processing transactions.
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