KZBlog

As usual in Kazakhstan, whenever the government plans to do anything rumors spread and everyone prepares for the worst. So it was a few months ago when I was told by several people that they were planning to replace the 1000 tenge bill. Everyone was trying to use up all their 1000 tenges.

As it turns out, what really happened is that the National Bank has issued a commemorative 1000-tenge bill in honor of Kazakhstan’s 2010 chairmanship of the OSCE. So stop panicking, there won’t be any replacements. This is just a special issue. 10 million bills will be printed and I got my first one today. It’s very pretty. Looks nothing like the usual 1000 tenge bill.

Also I couldn’t photograph this, but that space over Bayterek is clear when you look at it, but if you put it up to the light it becomes a silvery hologram of animal shaped rock drawings. Very cool looking.

In case you were wondering, the OSCE element is very subtle. Under Bayterek, it says “OSCE 2010”. I think that’s a lot more classy than if the note had a big picture of the OSCE headquaters on it or huge letters saying, “Kazakhstan OSCE 2010” or something.