Kazakhstan Ends Longest Easing Cycle With Eye on Price Pressures

Kazakhstan halted its longest series of interest-rate cuts in nearly a decade, holding the cost of borrowing as the central bank gauges price pressures at home and in neighboring Russia.

The National Bank of Kazakhstan kept the benchmark rate at 14.75% on Friday after five consecutive reductions. The move matched the forecast of only one economist in a Bloomberg survey, with most expecting a further reduction of 25 basis points.

“Inflationary pressures persist in the domestic economy,” even as the pace of price growth is slowing, the central bank said in a statement. “The space for monetary policy easing ...