Category Archives: Uncategorised

Armenia’s Armeneconombank and BTA merge

DEC. 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenia’s Armeneconombank said it intends to merge with BTA Bank Armenia. The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding in Almaty, confirming the deal. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development owns 20% of Armeneconombank. Kazakhstan’s BTA Bank owns 65.2% of BTA Bank Armenia. BTA Bank, in turn, is owned by Kazakhstan’s Kazkommertsbank.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 260, published on Dec. 11 2015)

UAE fancies Georgian capital as prime development spot

DEC. 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — UAE-based Green Valley International said it was launching a 500m dirham ($136m) luxury housing development project in Tbilisi aimed specifically at investors from the Middle East.

The Green Valley City project near the Georgian capital will spread over 88,000 square metres, roughly the size of 12 football pitches. In the ten apartment blocks the company plans to build, there will be around 510 residential units.

Ali Saeed Al Salami, general manager at Green Valley said: “Georgia is one of the most attractive destinations for real-estate development and investments in Europe. For this project, we will be providing special offerings and facilities to Arab and GCC citizens who would like to invest in it.”

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is a group of countries that includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Other investors have been piling into the Tbilisi property market. China’sHualing Georgia has opened its first hotel in Tbilisi Sea New City and Axis said it would complete two $83m twin towers in the city centre.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 260, published on Dec. 11 2015)

IMF approves of Kyrgyz fiscal management

DEC. 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) -The IMF gave Kyrgyzstan a $13m grant after a generally positive review of its economic progress since a credit arrangement was agreed earlier this year.

Kyrgyzstan’s government, under pressure from a regional economic downturn, will welcome both the grant and the positive IMF review.

“The Kyrgyz authorities have managed successfully to keep the program largely on track despite that the economy continues to face adverse external and domestic shocks,” the IMF said in a statement.

In May, the IMF approved a so called-Extended Credit Facility for Kyrgyzstan. This, in short, meant that Kyrgyzstan would receive $92.4m over the next three years if it stuck to a tight fiscal regime that reigned in public spending, improved tax collection and targeted inflation through its various monetary policy levers.

The deal also meant a twice- annual report by the IMF on Kyrgyzstan’s progress. These reports would form the basis of whether the next tranche of the IMF’s phased grant could be released to Kyrgyzstan.

And this latest report means that the next $13m can be handed over.

“Monetary policy will remain on a tightening bias to contain inflation pressures,” the IMF said in its report.

“The Central Bank will also continue to pursue a flexible exchange rate policy to safeguard foreign exchange reserves and preserve competitiveness, with interventions limited to smoothing short-term fluctuations.”

Kyrgyzstan’s Central Bank has been spending heavily to maintain the strength of its currency.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 260, published on Dec. 11 2015)

Ex-chairman of top Azerbaijani bank arrested for fraud

DEC. 5 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Police in Azerbaijan arrested Jahangir Hajiyev, the former head of the International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA) who was once feted as a future Central Bank chief, on charges of fraud and abuse of office.

His arrest follows the sacking of his brother-in-law, Eldar Mahmudov, in October as the national security minister and the sacking of Ali Abbasov as communications minister in November.

Mr Hajiyev, 54, had resigned from his position of chairman at IBA in March, officially because of poor health. He had been chairman of IBA for 14 years. State-controlled IBA is the largest bank in Azerbaijan and controls 60% of all loans in the country.

IBA also published its half-year results for 2015 on Dec. 5, highlighting a loss of 216m manat ($206m), due to the economic slowdown in the country, significantly worsened the bank’s loan portfolio.

Mr Hajiyev had been considered something of a high-flying financial executive and was tipped by many to succeed Elman Rustamov as head of the Azerbaijani Central Bank.

Instead, it appears as if Mr Hajiyev has become embroiled in a power- struggle within the notoriously secretive, and corrupt, Azerbaijani elite.

Azerbaijani media have started publishing stories which said Mr Mahmudov, the former security minister, had been covering for Mr Hajiyev who was pilfering cash.

Corruption in Azerbaijan is rife. In July, the Berlin-based lobby group Transparency International said: “Corruption in Azerbaijan is widely perceived to be endemic and deeply institutionalised – permeating all spheres of public life, with entrenched political patronage networks and widespread conflicts of interest closely connected to the political elite.”

With formal charges being filed, Mr Hajiyev will remain in jail for the next four months, pending trial.

In July, IBA appointed Elmar Mammadov as its new chairman. He had previously been head of Azer- Turk Bank.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 260, published on Dec. 11 2015)

Tenge/$ reaches balance

DEC. 9 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The tenge/$ rate has reached a balanced position, Kazakh PM Karim Massimov said, suggesting that the national currency will not lose much more value against the US dollar. By Dec. 9, the tenge traded at around 309/$1. It has lost around 40% of its value this year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 260, published on Dec. 11 2015)

Russia beefs up Armenian base

DEC. 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russia deployed seven attack helicopters to an air base outside Yerevan, Russian media reported, strengthening its operations in Armenia. Russia has a large garrison based at Gyumri, Armenia’s second city. Russia didn’t specify why it had strengthened its base.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 260, published on Dec. 11 2015)

Azerbaijani President visits China

DEC. 10 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev flew to China for talks with Chinese president Xi Jingping to discuss developing the South Caucasus as a transport corridor. Azerbaijan has been boosting its status as a gateway between the east and west.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 260, published on Dec. 11 2015)

“I can’t lie” says Kazakh TV reporter

DEC. 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The London correspondent of Kazakhstan’s state-owned Khabar TV station and its 24.kz website, Bela Kudaibergenova, resigned saying: “I just can’t lie any more”.

On a Facebook post, Ms Kudaibergenova, who has been in London for six years, said that she decided to quit when she was ordered to spin a dowdy event organised by the Kazakh embassy as a great success which showed the love that the British people have for Kazakhstan.

“That was it. I felt that enough was enough, and I could not do it anymore,” Ms Kudaibergenova told RFE/RL in an interview.

Free speech activists have previously criticised Kazakhstan for crack- downs and for using state-run media to sugar coat reality.

After Ms Kudaibergenova’s resignation, twitter and social media lit up with messages of support.

The reaction of the official media in Kazakhstan, though, was less ecstatic. The Khabar news channel said that a planned move from London had triggered her resignation.

“We never lie,” said Arman Seitmamyut, head of of Khabar TV.

“I personally demand that all our journalists double check all their work and the accuracy of everything.”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 260, published on Dec. 11 2015)

Tajikistan cuts electricity exports

DEC. 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajikistan’s public utilities company Barqi Tojik said it had stopped exporting electricity to Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan because of a seasonal shortage of supply, showing the weakness of Tajikistan’s power generating infrastructure.

The decision to halt exports also poses major questions over Tajikistan’s plans to become a regional power exporter. Only last week, foreign ministers from the countries involved in the CASA-1000 project signed a final agreement in Istanbul which should power the project forward.

The CASA-1000 project will link Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to Pakistan, which is short in power, via Afghanistan.

The export cut by Barqi Tojik is a routine measure to satisfy domestic demand during the peak winter season but the company said hydro-power plants suffered from lower- than-normal production this year.

“Water levels are today roughly 10% lower than last year,” said Barqi Tojik in a statement on Dec. 8.

For CASA-1000 to be a success, Tajikistan needs to build more hydropower capacity.

Shutting off power supplies to Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan during the winter months highlights this issue.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 260, published on Dec. 11 2015)

Azerbaijan releases rights activist Yunus

DEC. 9 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan appeared to bow to international pressure and release a frail- looking Leyla Yunus, one of the country’s most high-profile human rights activists, from prison where she had been serving an 8-1⁄2 year sentence for fraud and tax evasion.

She will re-join her husband, Arif who was sent to prison at the same time but was released earlier on health grounds, in their Baku home.

The West has accused the authorities in Baku of cracking-down on dissents over the past few years.

Human rights activists welcomed the release of Leyla Yunus, although she is not allowed to leave Baku and her fraud and tax evasion conviction still stands.

They also said, though, that other so-called political prisoners needed to be released. This includes journalist Khadija Ismayilova who was sent to prison earlier this year.

Ismayilova was a relatively well- known RFE/RL journalist in Azerbaijan who had reported on top level corruption in Azerbaijan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 260, published on Dec. 11 2015)