ASTANA -- Kazakhs are demanding that their mortgage loans be revised after the National Bank last week announced a 19 percent devaluation of the national currency, the tenge.
Dozens of protesters gathered outside the National Bank's headquarters in Almaty on February 19 and handed a petition addressed to the bank's chairman.
The petitioners say their mortgage loans were taken in U.S. dollars when the rate was 150-155 tenges to $1, while the rate rose to 185-189 tenges to $1 after last week's devaluation.
The protesters complain that since their salaries are in tenges, their mortgage debts have increased dramatically.
A National Bank spokesman told the protesters that the bank had established a commission to revise the mortgages.
The tenge's devaluation has triggered a series of public protests in Almaty, as well as a bank run by panicked savers on three private banks on February 18.
Dozens of protesters gathered outside the National Bank's headquarters in Almaty on February 19 and handed a petition addressed to the bank's chairman.
The petitioners say their mortgage loans were taken in U.S. dollars when the rate was 150-155 tenges to $1, while the rate rose to 185-189 tenges to $1 after last week's devaluation.
The protesters complain that since their salaries are in tenges, their mortgage debts have increased dramatically.
A National Bank spokesman told the protesters that the bank had established a commission to revise the mortgages.
The tenge's devaluation has triggered a series of public protests in Almaty, as well as a bank run by panicked savers on three private banks on February 18.
