Category Archives: Central Asia & South Caucasus News

Kazakh opposition trial starts in absentia

MARCH 17 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in Almaty began the trial in absentia of fugitive billionaire and self-styled Kazakh opposition leader Mukhtar Ablyazov, potentially setting Kazakhstan on a collision course with France which has refused to extradite him. The former head of BTA Bank is accused of embezzling billions of dollars. He fled to Britain after the collapse of BTA Bank in 2008/9 and then to France where he was arrested in 2013. Last year, a judge in Paris ruled against his extradition because of concerns that he would be tortured.

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(News report from Issue No. 321, published on March 20 2017)

Inflation at correct level, says Kazakh Central Bank chief

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MARCH 13 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakh Central Bank chief Daniyer Akishev said that he wanted to target inflation of 6-8% by the end of the year. It currently measures 7.8% which is down from a recent high of 17.7% in July 2016. Kazakhstan’s economy has stabilised after falling heavily in the previous couple of years, a drop linked to the fall in oil prices and tenge weakness.

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(News report from Issue No. 321, published on March 20 2017)f

Rail tariff cut to boost trade in Azerbaijan

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MARCH 13 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Looking to boost trade along the so- called North-South Transport Corridor between Russia and India, Azerbaijan, Russia and Iran agreed to cut rail tariffs by 50%, media reported. The three countries met in Moscow to discuss developments, including a new bridge over the Astara river that joins Azerbaijan’s and Iran’s railway. The North-South Corridor is considered an important component for boosting regional trade.

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(News report from Issue No. 321, published on March 20 2017)

Kazakh Central Bank says to buy KKB bad debt

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ALMATY, MARCH 15 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s Central Bank confirmed that it would buy up 2.4 trillion tenge ($7.5b) of bad debt owned by Kazkommertsbank, effectively subsidising its purchase by Halyk Bank.

Halyk Bank, owned by the daughter and son-in-law of Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev, agreed to buy Kazkommertsbank earlier this year for an undisclosed amount in a deal that will give it a 38% market share and Kazakhstan’s elite control of the banking sector.

The 2.4 trillion tenge bad debt held by Kazkommertsbank is a legacy of its purchase of BTA Bank from the government. The government had

bought it in 2008/9 when it was about to collapse during the Global Financial Crisis.

Separately, deputy Central Bank chairman Oleg Smolyakov said it would take two to three months for Halyk Bank to carry out its due diligence of Kazkommertsbank before the takeover could be completed.

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(News report from Issue No. 321, published on March 20 2017)

ODIHR chief flies to Uzbekistan

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MARCH 16 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Michael Georg, head of the OSCE’s election monitoring unit ODIHR, travelled to Tashkent for a meeting with the Uzbek foreign ministry on its findings from its election monitoring mission in December. The meeting is likely to precede a final election monitoring report from ODIHR. The elections last December were the first time that ODIHR had monitored an election in Uzbekistan.

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(News report from Issue No. 321, published on March 20 2017)

Hundreds more protest in Kyrgyz capital

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MARCH 18/19 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Police in the Kyrgyz capital broke up a series of anti-government protests complaining about what they said was pressure on free speech. Media reported that hundreds of people turned out for the demonstrations after the government said that it was going to sue two media companies for slandering Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev. There have been a number of anti-government protests in Bishkek since the arrest last month of senior members of the opposition Ata Meken party, including leader and presidential candidate Omurbek Tekebayev.

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(News report from Issue No. 321, published on March 20 2017)

Parking ticket sparks riot in Georgian city

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TBILISI, MARCH 11/12 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Police and rioters clashed in Batumi, Georgia’s second city, allegedly after an argument over a parking ticket escalated into violence.

Rioters burned cars and fought police who resorted to firing tear gas into the protesters in what observers have said was the worst violence for years in Georgia. Local media said that 85 people were detained after the violence.

For the ruling Georgian Dream coalition, the violence is a potential problem as it may show that people are become increasingly tired with the status quo and also of deal with an economic downturn that has started to impact living standards. A Georgian observer said that the main riot was the culmination of a build-up of a bad feeling towards a new police chief in Batumi who was trying to impose heavier fines for small misdemeanours such as littering the street.

There had been two days of protests before the riot.

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(News report from Issue No. 321, published on March 20 2017)

Kazakhstan’s Eurasian Bank plans to expand

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MARCH 14 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s Eurasian Bank plans to expand into Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia and Azerbaijan in a bid to become a truly regional operator, its CEO Pavel Loginov said in an interview with Forbes Kazakhstan. Almaty, the former capital of Kazakhstan, is considered the financial capital of Central Asia but the only two banks in the region listed on the London Stock Exchange are both Georgian — Bank of Georgia and TBC.

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(News report from Issue No. 321, published on March 20 2017)

Islamic finance boosts in Kazakhstan

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MARCH 14 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Association of Financiers of Kazakhstan, an industry lobby group, and Islamic Development Bank have signed a deal to look at ways of developing Islamic finance in Kazakhstan, media reported. There are currently two banks in Kazakhstan practising Islamic banking — Zaman Bank and Bank Al-Hilal.

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(News report from Issue No. 321, published on March 20 2017)

Kyrgyzstan expels Russian journalist

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MARCH 13 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan expelled a high-profile Russian journalist, triggering an angry response from Russia’s embassy in Bishkek. Officially, Girgory Mikhailov, the Kyrgyzstan bureau chief for the Regnum news agency was expelled for failing to register properly. Mr Mikhailov, who has worked in Kyrgyzstan since 2002, said that he had not committed any infringements and that he didn’t know the real reason for his expulsion.

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(News report from Issue No. 321, published on March 20 2017)