FEB. 26 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – US ice cream maker Baskin Robbins said it wants to open its first cafe in Tajikistan, although it didn’t say when. Baskin Robbins operates in several countries in the former Soviet Union, including Armenia, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. French retailer Auchan opened a store in Dushanbe last year.
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(News report from Issue No. 270, published on March 4 2016)
MARCH 1 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The proportion of Kazakhs travelling abroad for holidays or for work has fallen by 70% to 80% because of the devaluation in the tenge, media reported quoting the Kazakhstan Tourist Association chairman Rashid Shaikenov. The tenge has lost around 50% of its value in the past year, forcing people to ditch foreign holidays.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 270, published on March 4 2016)
MARCH 1 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Annualised inflation to the end of February measured 15.2%, its highest rate since 2008, the statistics agency said. The data is more evidence that the devaluation of the tenge last year by 50% has spurred overall inflation. The Central Bank had wanted inflation between 6 – 8%. It has now said its monetary policy is aimed at dampening inflation.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 270, published on March 4 2016)
MARCH 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — “Net worth” might not be hard data, but it’s still a decent indication of just how hard the economic downturn and the fall in commodity prices have hit Kazakhstan.
The owners of Kazakh miner ENRC lost a total of $1.8b in net worth in 2015, according to Forbes’ 2016 Billionaires list, showing the economic collapse that has hit Kazakhstan.
Aleksander Machkevich, Patok Chodiev and Alijan Ibragimov, the “Kazakh Trio,” lost around $600m each in 2015.
ENRC de-listed in London in November 2013 after disputes in the board and fraud investigations. The Kazakh Trio owns Eurasian Resources Group, a Luxembourg- based holding that owns ENRC.
Mr Ibragimov is the only member of the Trio registered in Kazakhstan.
Other members of the exclusive Kazakh billionaire club who have seen their fortunes dip include Dinara Kulibayeva, President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s daughter, and her husband Timur Kulibayev, each valued at $2b in 2015, down from a valuation of $2.1b in 2014.
Kazakhstan’s richest man, Bulat Utemuratov, fell 57 places in Forbes’ ranking. Mr Utemuratov is now the 771st richest man in the world, at $2.3b.
Finally, Forbes said that Vladimir Kim, who owns one-third of KAZ Minerals, saw his net worth decline from $1.8b to $1.5b.
Overall, the top five business people in Kazakhstan are worth $1.5b less than last year, that’s a 14% cut.
If the depreciation of the tenge has badly hit ordinary consumers and savers in Kazakhstan, the commodity slump remains the biggest headache for the high-flying business people.
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(News report from Issue No. 270, published on March 4 2016)
FEB. 26 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Stall owners in Yerevan’s largest clothing market scuffled with police during a protest against what they say are unfair rents they are having to pay in worsening economic conditions.
Armenia is prone to street demonstrations which can often be drawn out and rattle governments. Last year protests over a proposed increase in electricity prices lasted weeks and eventually forced the government to backtrack.
And, just like its neighbours, Armenia’s economy has been worsening over the past 18 months. Remittances have fallen, GDP growth is low and shopkeepers have said that trade has collapsed.
Now frayed nerves appear to be morphing into street demonstrations once again.
Official data has shown that trade in Armenia in 2015 was down by nearly 60% on the previous year, media reported. Stall owners at the Malatia market on the western edge of the city appear to agree. Hundreds stopped work to join the protest that blocked a road.
“We are not slaves. Enough is enough,” RFE/RL quoted one stall owner as saying.
They wanted the rent on the stalls to be lowered by 30%, a figure that the market’s owner has said was impossible to hit.
The demonstration’s leaders have said that they will not pay rent in March unless the price is dropped, setting the scene for another show- down next month.
Police detained three people at the demonstration.
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(News report from Issue No. 270, published on March 4 2016)
MARCH 2 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia, a new low cost airline, will start flying in April, pending the approval of Armenia’s aviation committee. The owners of Georgia’s low cost airline Georgian Airways, Tamaz Gaiashvili and Robert Oganesian, own 49% of Armenia, while Ashot Torosyan, an Armenian businessman, owns 51% of the company. Armenia’s aviation sector has been in flux since Air Armenia was declared bankrupt in 2014.
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(News report from Issue No. 270, published on March 4 2016)
FEB. 26 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – An Armenian government agency slapped a 50m dram ($102,000) fine on Coca Cola Hellenic Bottling Armenia for unfair competition. Armenia’s State Commission for Protection of Economic Competition found Coca Cola Hellenic guilty of “creating barriers to entry of competitors into the market.”
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(News report from Issue No. 270, published on March 4 2016)
MARCH 1 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Around 1,000 miners at the Tkibuli mine in central Georgia ended their two-week long strike after agreeing a pay rise with Georgia Industrial Group (GIG) which owns the mine. Under the deal, the company GIG will increase miners’ salaries by 7% now and another 3% in April. The miners had wanted a 40% pay rise. Last week they broke into the GIG regional office.
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(News report from Issue No. 270, published on March 4 2016)
MARCH 2 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) -A consortium formed by Japan’s Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Turkey’s Renaissance holding has started construction on a $1.7b gas- to-liquids plant in Turkmenistan. The plant will produce petrol from natural gas. When it starts production in 2018, the plant will process around 1.8b cubic metres of gas and produce 600,000 tonnes of petrol.
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(News report from Issue No. 270, published on March 4 2016)
FEB. 27 2016, TBILISI (The Conway Bulletin) — Anger, frustration, despair. These were the main emotions described by the hundreds of protesters who marched through Tbilisi’s Old Town protesting against plans supported by Bidzina Ivanishvili, the former PM and the richest man in the country, to transform the surrounding hills into a series of hotels and entertainment centres.
“It’s unbelievable to me that they can get away with this.” Denis, 28, told The Conway Bulletin, while he was drawing a green NO on the palm of his hand.
“Why don’t they invest the $500m in revitalising our crumbling old town?”
Of course, though, there is another side. Mr Ivanishvili has said that the plans, which would also mean building a new cable car starting in Freedom Square at the heart of the city, will not alter the character of the city and will instead draw thousands more tourists, create much needed income and jobs.
“This project is interesting for our children and tourists. This will be a main tourist attraction. I am able and I want to assist my city,” Bidzina Ivanishvili has previously said.
For now, the developers appear to be winning the argument over the Panorama project and construction work has started, although planners have ruled against other projects.
The issues, though, remain the same across the region. Officials and businessmen, often linked to the political elite, want to develop a part of a city. Frustrated locals, often with few issues to protest legally about, want to stop them.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 270, published on March 4 2016)
