Category Archives: Uncategorised

Kyrgyzstan’s Kumtor gold output to drop

OCT. 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Canadian miner Centerra Gold said its operations at Kyrgyzstan’s Kumtor mine will produce up to 17% less gold in 2015 compared to 2014. The company forecasts production of 13.3 to 14.7 tonnes of gold this year. Last year, it produced 16.1 tonnes of gold. Kumtor is vital to Kyrgyzstan’s economy and news of a drop in output will hit the country’s economic forecasts. It accounts for around 10% of GDP.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 253, published on Oct. 23 2015)

Georgia’s President visits Israel

OCT. 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s President Giorgi Margvelashvili flew to Israel for an official visit, further proof that relations between the two countries are improving after a shaky spell under former President Mikheil Saakashvili. Israel and Georgia last month opened a factory outside Tbilisi that will produce aviation parts.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 253, published on Oct. 23 2015)

Iran, China and Kazakhstan to build refinery

OCT. 17 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Iran and China are ready to help build Kazakhstan’s fourth oil refinery, Raymbek Amirzhanov, vice governor of the Mangistau region in north- western Kazakhstan, told media. Kazakhstan has repeatedly said it needs a fourth refinery to end its dependence on Russian petroleum products. Iran and China have said they will buy more oil from Kazakhstan through a swap system.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 253, published on Oct. 23 2015)

Mars bars price fall in Armenia

OCT. 21 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Perhaps it’s the Eurasian Economic Union effect. Prices of Mars chocolate bars in Armenia have fallen by around 20%, the Haykakan Zhamanak newspaper reported. Shopkeepers said a cut in customs duties have contributed to the price deflation. Armenia imports most Mars-branded chocolate bars from Russia. Armenia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Kyrgyzstan are members of the Eurasian Economic Union.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 253, published on Oct. 23 2015)

Court shuts newspaper in Kazakhstan

OCT. 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Almaty shut the Adam newspaper, saying that, by publishing in Russian only, it violated the law on languages. Human rights groups said this was a pretext to curb independent media in Kazakhstan. A paper linked to the opposition, Adam was created in March 2015 after its predecessor Adam Bol was shut down in December 2014.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 253, published on Oct. 23 2015)

Uzbek-Korea gas completes plant

OCT. 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uz-Kor Gas, a joint venture between South Korean and Uzbek companies, has completed a $3.9b natural gas processing plant.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 253, published on Oct. 23 2015)

Georgia’s court acquits 4 of anti-gay attack

OCT. 23 2015, TBILISI (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in Tbilisi acquitted four men of organising a violent attack on a gay rights march in 2013 that injured 28 people, pitting Georgia’s pro-rights lobby against a strong traditionalist group.

The four men, including one priest who was photographed carrying a wooden stool at the 2013 march apparently as a weapon, were accused of being the ringleaders behind the homophobic attack in central Tbilisi.

Human rights groups have accused Georgia of homophobia in the past but traditional values hold sway – the Church is still very powerful and has spoken out strongly against gay rights, – and the court’s verdict will have resonated with many people.

One user on the kavpolit.com website said: “Gay parades are not for the Caucasus. Well done to the priests and the judges. Let them go to Western Europe.”

In 2014, a poll in Georgia found that only 24% of people thought that protecting gay rights was important.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 253, published on Oct. 23 2015)

Stock market: Nostrum, Tethys, KAZ Minerals

OCT. 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Oil companies suffered from a fall in oil prices this week. The Brent index closed at $48/barrel on Friday, down 5% this week.

Nostrum Oil & Gas lost around 9% this week, recovering on Friday to end at 475p per share in London. Nostrum’s summer objective Tethys Petroleum continued its slump, reaching the lowest level in 2015 on Oct. 22, trading at 0.06 Canadian dollars per share in Toronto on Thursday, rebounding slightly to 0.07 Canadian dollars on Friday. Kazakhstan-focused Roxi Petroleum gained 2%, after it issued new shares earlier in October. Roxi closed at 9.63p on Friday.

Last week, the price of copper fell by 2% before recovering to $2.40 per lb. Britain-based miner KAZ Minerals was hit by the market crunch this week and recorded a 7% loss, closing at 127p in London on Friday.

The upside was represented by Centerra Gold, whose shares gained almost 9% despite slower gold production in Kyrgyzstan. The final price in Toronto was 8.28 Canadian dollars.

In the banking sector, Bank of Georgia rose by almost 7% this week to 214p. The stability of the lari currency kept the market optimistic.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 253, published on Oct. 23 2015)

Kyrgyzstan’s housing market slows

OCT. 20 2015, BISHKEK (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan’s real estate market has slowed, media reported quoting a land registry report, more evidence that the overall Kyrgyz economy is stalling.

Analysts from the department of land registry said that the number of house sales this year had dropped by around 42% and the market for apartments was down by 34%.

The official position was the housing market had cooled off because prices were simply too high but a construction company in Bishkek said that the real reason activity in the housing market had fallen was the drop in the value of the Kyrgyz som against the US dollar.

“Sanctions on Russian economy definitely affect the purchasing power of our citizens because the US dollar is the currency for real estate transactions,” a construction company manager who wanted to remain anonymous told the Bulletin.

Roughly in line with other currencies in the region, the som has lost around 33% of its value over the past 12 months and is now trading at around 69/$1.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 253, published on Oct. 23 2015)

Azerbaijan’s GDP growth falls

OCT. 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s government said its economy would grow by only 1.8% next year compared to 4.4% this year because of low oil prices and a drop in production. Parliament also approved a national budget for 2016 of 14.6b manat ($13.9b), down by 10.4% from last year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 253, published on Oct. 23 2015)