SEPT. 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Highlighting Azerbaijan’s enhanced role in the global energy system, foreign minister Elmar Mammadyarov said in a speech at the UN General Assembly in New York that the country had become a “crucial player” in the system. Europe wants to increase imports of gas from Azerbaijan.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 250, published on Oct. 2 2015)
OCT. 1 2015, ALMATY (The Conway Bulletin) — The collapse in the value of the Kazakh tenge over the past 18 months has not only hurt businesses and consumers in Kazakhstan. Charities that collect cash in tenge but accrue costs in US dollars and other foreign currencies are also having to cut services — often life-saving ones.
In an interview with The Conway Bulletin, Ilyas Kubriyanov, head of the UnityKZ charity, said that the cost of sending ill children abroad for treatment had spiralled.
“We are having problems, of course, as foreign hospitals invoice in dollars but we collect 90% of our donations in tenge,” he said. “Consequently, the cost of treatments is increasing.”
UnityKZ helps pay for children who have cancer or other serious illnesses to travel abroad for treatment. Mr Kubriyanov, who set up the charity in 2009, said that there are currently 10 children waiting for treatment.
“Because of the currency situation, the money we collect loses its impact,” he said. “Everything has become much more expensive.”
The Kazakh Central Bank released the tenge from its US dollar peg in August, triggering a sharp devaluation. It is trading at around 272/$1 compared to 188/$1 on Aug. 19.
It also devalued its currency in February 2014. The tenge is now worth nearly half its Feb. 2014 value.
A sharp drop in oil prices and a recession in Russia has battered economies in Central Asia and the South Caucasus. Statistics show unemployment and inflation rising but the impact is felt across Kazakh society.
“Recently, we asked parents of sick children to think about another type of treatment to have or another country to aim for,” Mr Kubriyanov said. “One child was transferred to China recently, but they also have some difficulties with their currency there.”
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 250, published on Oct. 2 2015)
SEPT. 29 2015, DUSHANBE (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajikistan’s High Court decreed the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT) a terrorist organisation and banned it, wiping the only real opposition party from the country.
The high court statement published by the Khovar state news agency accused the IRPT of committing crimes of terrorist acts and spreading provocative materials.
Pressure on the IRPT has been building.
The General Prosecutor’s Office earlier accused the IRPT leadership of involvement in double attacks on police checkpoints last month that killed two dozen people. It said the mastermind of the attacks had been deputy defence minister Abduhalim Nazarzoda.
Police also detained Buzurgmehr Yorov, an IRPT lawyer, after he started defending 13 top party members arrested for the attacks. Mr Yorov has reportedly been charged with fraud and corruption crimes.
Earlier this year, the Tajik authorities also prosecuted Group 24, another political party that it deemed to be plotting against it.
An analyst who declined to be named said: “It is the sign of zero tolerance of any kind of political opposition, no matter whether they are religious or secular. Tajikistan has now become a one-party state.”
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 250, published on Oct. 2 2015)
SEPT. 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Veolia, the French utilities company, is looking to extend its control of Armenia’s water and sewage systems, Gor Grigoryan, CEO of Yerevan Jur which is already managed by a Veolia subsidiary, said. Armenia is re-organising its water and sewage companies. Next year, Yerevan Jur will merge with the Armenian Water and Sewage Company. There are three other similar companies in Armenia.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 250, published on Oct. 2 2015)
SEPT. 29 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Currency reserves held by Armenia’s Central Bank have dropped to $1.646b from $1.703b at the start of the month, despite it insisting that it was not intervening in the currency market to support the dram. A year earlier, the CBank’s currency reserves measures $1.75b.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 250, published on Oct. 2 2015)
SEPT. 29 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Chinese manufacturer Poly Technologies said that it had started construction at a new rubber plant in Uzbekistan. During the ceremony at the Angren Special Industrial Zone, Gulomjon Ibragimov, Uzbekistan’s deputy PM said the project would improve rubber production capacity in the country.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 250, published on Oct. 2 2015)
SEPT. 29 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Remittances to Armenia from abroad dropped by 38.8% in the first eight months of the year to $114.8m compared to the same period in 2014 , the Armenian Central Bank said. Russia provides nearly 80% of all Armenia’s remittances. It has been coping with the fallout from a collapse in oil prices and sanctions.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 250, published on Oct. 2 2015)
OCT. 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — UK-based Divisa Capital bought Laboratory of Financial Technologies, an Armenian financial services provider, for an undisclosed amount. Mushegh Tovmasyan, CEO of Divisa Capital, said that he wanted to use the company’s new Armenian foothold to target the Eurasian market.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 250, published on Oct. 2 2015)
OCT. 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — It’s hard to believe that Kazakhstan has really moved to a free-floating currency market. The roller-coaster of the past 40 days has hit the Central Bank’s credibility. Investors and citizens alike are wary of the potential consequences of their tenge-denominated portfolios.
And over the last two weeks, the Central Bank has sold around $1b to keep the tenge away from the frightening 300/$1 floor it momentarily touched on Sept. 16.
The tenge has since traded at around 271/1$. In August, the Central Bank chose to move away from a dollar peg of around 188/$1 to avoid draining its reserves. Now, it seems, the tenge has found another, unofficial, peg.
In other countries, the situation was fairly stable this week. The Kyrgyz som kept its rate through the week at around 69/$1. The Georgian lari held below 2.39/$1.
In Tajikistan, the Central Bank seems to be allowing a weekly 0.5% decline for the somoni, now at around 6.5/$1.
And finally, in a recent Central Bank survey, 41% of Tajikistan’s population is in favour of letting the somoni float free.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 250, published on Oct. 2 2015)
SEPT. 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Google launched youtube.kz, a Kazakh language version of video streaming service YouTube. Maxim Machkasau, development manager for Google in Kazakhstan, said: “YouTube is very popular in Kazakhstan, especially among people aged 18-24 years.” But social media has come under scrutiny in Kazakhstan for being used by radicals to spread extremist Islamic propaganda.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 250, published on Oct. 2 2015)
