Published
07/14/2025, 09:27The currency market in Kyrgyzstan is undergoing a significant transformation. The total volume of foreign currency transactions by banks and exchange offices, including transactions with non-residents, grew by 30.2% in 2024, reaching 5.1 trillion soms.
Significant growth was observed in the main currencies: the US dollar, the Russian rouble and the Chinese yuan. At the same time, for the first time in recent years, the share of rouble transactions exceeded that of dollar transactions: 49.2% against 46%, respectively. A year earlier, the share of the dollar was 48.6%, and that of the rouble was 48.4%.
The growth in transactions with the Chinese yuan deserves special attention. The share of transactions with this currency more than doubled, from 1.4% to 3.4%. This reflects both the strengthening of trade and economic ties between Bishkek and Beijing and the diversification of settlements in cross-border trade.
Interest in the euro and the Kazakh tenge remained stable or even declined slightly. The share of the euro fell from 1.6% to 1.3%, while transactions in tenge fell from 0.05% to 0.03%.
Most transactions (94.9%) continue to be conducted in cash, i.e. the traditional exchange format dominates. Exchange offices account for 70.4% of all cash transactions, which is explained by both the structure of domestic demand and the high mobility of cash flows in the market.
The redistribution of currency flows and the strengthening of the role of the rouble and the yuan may indicate the beginning of a reorientation of the country's currency basket, largely due to sanctions pressure from the United States and Europe on the republic's main trading partners. This may also be a consequence of the growing importance of regional integration and the rejection of single currency dependence.
