JAN. 6 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s President Giorgi Margvelashvili has started searching for a successor to Giorgi Kadagidze who will complete his 7-year term as head of the Central Bank in February. Mr Margvelashvili’s nominee will have to be voted in by the Parliament before he or she can assume office.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 262, published on Jan. 8 2016)
JAN. 7 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The New Year did not change the fortunes of currencies in the South Caucasus and Central Asia. All currencies are still suffering against a strong US dollar and Central Banks are intervening to prop them up.
Undoubtedly, the most notable decision came just before the holidays when Azerbaijan ditched its currency peg to the dollar and let the manat slide. After a 48% fall, the currency found its equilibrium at 1.55/$1. It is now trading at 1.57/$1.
In Kazakhstan, the tenge recovered towards the end of December, but it slid to 345/$1 in January.
Tajikistan witnessed the worst start of the year, with its somoni currency falling 2.5% in the first week of January, trading at 7.17/$1. Notably, exchange points have been charging a premium of 8-10% on currency transactions in the past few weeks.
In Kyrgyzstan the Central Bank has kept the som stable at 75.9/$1 by intervening several times.
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(News report from Issue No. 262, published on Jan. 8 2016)
DEC. 25 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s ally Nurtai Abykayev retired as chairman of the National Security Committee, one of the most influential posts in the country. Mr Abykayev, 68, had been chairman of the National Security Committee since 2010, the second time he had held the position. Vladimir Zhumakhanov, previously his deputy, takes over as head.
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(News report from Issue No. 262, published on Jan. 8 2016)
DEC. 22 2015, TBILISI (The Conway Bulletin) — Irakli Garibashvili unexpectedly quit as Georgia’s PM, a move that effectively signalled the first shot in what is likely to be a protracted and bitter campaign ahead of parliamentary elections in October.
Known for his combative nature, Mr Garibashvili said he had decided to quit after two years in office because he had achieved his aims.
“We have returned freedom and dignity to our citizens,” he said. “Official posts are temporary, God and homeland are eternal. Therefore today I took a decision to leave the post of Prime Minister.”
Analysts said Bidzina Ivanishvili, Georgia’s richest man and the power behind the ruling Georgian Dream coalition, had decided to sacrifice his protege because of a slump in the polls.
“It was not a statement of a person who wanted to leave,” said Kornely Kakachia, director of the Tbilisi based think tank Georgian Institute of Politics, of Mr Garibashvili’s resignation speech.
“He probably didn’t even know that he was going to be replaced until the day he resigned.”
A recession in Russia and currencies depreciation across the region have impacted Georgia’s economy, hitting the popularity of the Georgian Dream which defeated the party of former president Mikheil Saakashvili, the United National Movement party (UNM), in elections four years ago.
The Georgian Dream coalition and the UNM are bitter rivals and the parliamentary election is likely to be particularly hard fought and vitriolic.
Giorgi Kvirikashvili, a former economy and foreign minister, was appointed PM. He too is close to Mr Ivanishvili , having previously worked at his bank, Cartu Bank.
Mr Kvirikashvili, 48, said his priority was to boost the economy, a message that appears to have gone down well on the streets of Tbilisi.
Georgian Dream supporter Giorgi Abaladze said the appointment of Mr Kvirikashvili was positive.
“Personally I really like Kvirikashvili. The previous PM was a little bit harsh in his position, he seemed more radical,” he said. “And Kvirikashvili is an economist, and that is what we need in these harsh economic times.”
JAN. 8 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Both Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan ditched their currencies’ peg to the US dollar in 2015, triggering sudden and sustained depreciation of their currencies.
These were tough, but necessary calls by their Central Banks as these currencies were over-valued compared to oil and the Russian rouble.
What happens next differentiates Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan has allowed, with the odd intervention, its currency to devalue. The Azerbaijani Central Bank, by contrast and very much in keeping with the tight way that the country is run, appears determined to anchor the manat more-or-less at its current rate against the US dollar. The rhetoric may be of liberalisation but the actions are of a conservative and uptight Central Bank.
And this comes across in other ways too. A couple of weeks after the devaluation, Azerbaijan imposed a rule that only people presenting their official ID could change more than $500 into foreign currencies. This could be the first of many exchange controls.
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(Editorial from Issue No. 262, published on Jan. 8 2016)
DEC. 25 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Georgian government and Austrian company Humanity Holding will team up to build a $130m pharmaceutical factory in Tbilisi. Humanity established a daughter company, Humanity Georgia, to run the project. The factory will produce 800 pharmaceutical products. Humanity Georgia will also import pharmaceutical products from abroad. Georgia’s state-owned Partnership Fund will co-fund the project.
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(News report from Issue No. 262, published on Jan. 8 2016)
DEC. 23 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — US-based Frontera Resources said its final geological assessment of the South Kakheti gas complex it operates in Georgia will be completed in the first quarter of 2016. Frontera said it also plans to shortly start production, which will initially amount to 77m cubic metres of gas annually.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 262, published on Jan. 8 2016)
DEC. 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kairat Satybaldy, the 45-year-old nephew of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, quit as secretary of the Nur Otan party, one of the most high profile and influential political jobs in the country. Nur Otan is Mr Nazarbayev’s political party. Mr Satybaldy had been secretary of Nur Otan for six years. Some analysts have said he is a potential successor to Mr Nazarbayev.
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(News report from Issue No. 262, published on Jan. 8 2016)
JAN. 5 2016, BISHKEK (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan deported a Scottish welder working at the country’s biggest gold mine after he jokingly described a horse-meat sausage delicacy as a horse’s penis, an incident that highlights Kyrgyz sensitivities over their national identity.
Michael Mcfeat wrote next to a photo on his Facebook account of workers lining up at a canteen at the Kumtor gold mine on New Year’s Eve: “The Kyrgyz people queuing out the door for there special delicacy the horses penis!!” (sic).
He was poking fun at the chu- chuk, a sausage made up of horse meat and fat which is boiled and served sliced up before festive meals. Local staff, though, at the gold mine, run by Toronto-listed Centerra Gold, were outraged and called a strike.
Mr Mcfeat, 39, tried to leave the country but was detained at Bishkek airport. Media suggested that he could have been prosecuted for racial hatred but instead he was deported for visa infringements.
Mr Mcfeat did not work directly for Centerra Gold but instead for a sub- contractor.
Still, it has aggravated relations between Centerra Gold and Kyrgyzstan. The two sides are locked in a dispute over ownership.
Adil Turdukulov, a Bishkek-based analyst, said relations between foreign and local staff at Kyrgyzstan’s various mining projects are strained over unequal pay and conditions.
“Tense relations between local and foreign employees of Kumtor have been growing, and this is just an effect,” he said.
Kyrgyzstan has been independent since 1991 and, like other Central Asian states, is sensitive about its identity.
And on the streets of Bishkek, most people thought that Mr Mcfeat had gotten off lightly.
Roza, 62, said that he should think before poking fun at Kyrgyzstan as some of Scotland’s own delicacies sounded foul.
“The Scots also eat sheep’s stomach stuffed with heart, oatmeal, guts and fat,” she said referring to haggis, a Scottish national dish.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 262, published on Jan. 8 2016)
DEC. 31 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan is considering closing several of its overseas embassies as it looks for ways to cut costs during a period of sustained low oil and gas prices, media reported quoting a foreign ministry spokesman. Azerbaijan has expanded its diplomatic missions over the past few years in line with burgeoning revenues from oil and gas sales. Profit from those sales has now collapsed.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 262, published on Jan. 8 2016)
