Category Archives: Uncategorised

Kyrgyzstan’s gold reserve falls

MAY 27 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan’s gold and currency reserves have dropped to $1.8b, down from 2.1b in March 2014, media reported quoting the Central Bank chief Tolkunbek Abdygulov. The drop is due to Kyrgyzstan selling gold and cash to prop up its currency. Like its neighbours, Kyrgyzstan has been struggling to deal with a steep decline in the Russian rouble and the Russian economy.

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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)

Nearly half of Kazakhstan’s saigas died

MAY 27 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Officials in Kazakhstan said 127,000 saiga antelopes out of a herd of 300,000 had now died from an outbreak of a respiratory disease. Kazakhstan has the largest herd of the endangered saiga antelopes.

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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)

Turkem President statue unveiled in Ashgabat

MAY 25 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – To rapturous applause from watching Turkmens, officials in Turkmenistan unveiled a golden statue of President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov riding a horse on a 21m high white marble plinth.

When Mr Berdymukhamedov came to power in 2007 he set out deriding his predecessor’s personality cult and opening the country up to the world. Over the past few years, though, his own brand of cult has mushroomed.

According to media reports hundreds of people sang and chanted as they watched the statue being unveiled in a central square in Ashgabat.

Britain’s Independent newspa- per quoted a man saying: “Arkadag works for the glory of our people from dawn to dusk.”

Arkadag means protector and is the people’s nickname for Mr Berdymukhamedov. Reports over the past few years, from winning horse races against obviously planted opponents to shouting at officials on TV, have painted Mr Berdymukhamedov as an increasingly autocratic and eccentric leader.

Europe, China and countries in the Middle East are trying to woo Turkmenistan and persuade it to sign various gas supply deals. Turkmenistan holds the world’s fourth largest gas reserves.

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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)

Apartment sales drop in Georgia

MAY 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Sales of new apartments in Georgia have slumped because of the worsening economic conditions, media reported quoting developers. Specifically, sales of luxury apartments are down 70% and sales of more basic apartments have dropped by 10%.

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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)

Drop NGO law, UN tells Kyrgyzstan

MAY 26 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Rupert Colville, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that Kyrgyzstan should drop a draft law that will make cooperation between local and foreign NGOs more complicated. “This vague wording may put at risk numerous organisations working to deliver services or conduct human rights advocacy,” he said.

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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)

Uzbekistan wants to boost cotton

MAY 28 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A senior Uzbek official hinted that Uzbekistan wanted to increase its export of refined cotton fabrics. Media quoted Dilbar Mukhamedova, a senior official in UzbekYengil- Sanoat, the state company which produces light industrial goods, as saying that Uzbekistan currently produces $1b of refined cotton products.

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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)

Court shuts Uzbek newspaper

MAY 21 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Tashkent ordered the closure of Noviy Vek, a privately owned weekly newspaper for, apparently, undermining the moral values of the country. Uzbekistan has one of the worst records for free press in the world.

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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)

Tajikistan’s remittances to drop 40%

MAY 25 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a new report, the World Bank said remittances from Tajik migrant workers to their relatives might drop by 40% this year.

Remittances in 2014 from Tajiks working in Russia made up over 42% of Tajikistan’s GDP keeping the country at the top of the world’s most remittance- dependent ranking.

The World Bank’s forecast, therefore, makes for grim reading.

According to the World Bank the Tajik economy will experience a much slower growth than in the past few years. The country’s GDP in 2015 will grow at 3.2%, less than half its 2014 figure of 6.7%.

The World Bank forecasts the growth to return above 5% only in 2017. It also said that inflation would rise steadily over the next two years to around 10%.

The data presented by the World Bank paints a dark picture for Tajikistan’s short term future.

The World Bank has given similar pessimistic forecasts for Kyrgyzstan.

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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)

Kazakh Halyk Bank revealed profits

MAY 21 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Halyk Bank, Kazakhstan’s second largest bank majority owned by the daughter of Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev and her husband Timur Kulibayev, posted year-on-year profits down 29%. Costs had risen, in particular workers’ salaries. Kazakhstan devalued its currency in 2014, triggering wage inflation.

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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)

Georgia-Iran flights to begin

MAY 21 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Direct Tbilisi-Tehran flights will begin next month, media reported quoting Tbilisi mayor David Narmania. The launch of a direct route between Tbilisi and Tehran highlights the growing links between the two countries. Tehran’s mayor Mohammad Bagher was visiting Tbilisi to sign a twinning agreement.

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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)