ALMATY -- Several residents of Kazakhstan’s largest city, Almaty, rallied in front of the city Mayor's office, demanding their mortgage loans to be revised as the national currency – the tenge -- hit a new low on February 9 of 186 tenge to $1.
The protesters say that when they got mortgages in the U.S. dollars several years ago the rate was 107 tenge against $1, which had changed dramatically since then.
The decrease in the value of the tenge quickened after the Kazakh National Bank announced a devaluation a year ago, which lowered the rate to 182 tenge against $1.
A representative of the Almaty Mayor's office, Sanzhar Boqaev, met with the protesters and encouraged them to attend the ruling Nur-Otan party's session on February 12 to address the issue.
The tenge's devaluation has triggered several public protests in Almaty and Astana - the capital, in recent months.