Category Archives: Uncategorised

Nazarbayev orders Central Bank to move to Astana

MAY 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev ordered the Central Bank to move from Almaty to Astana by 2017.

The Central Bank is the last major government institution to move to Astana,
marking the final act of the ascendency of Mr Nazarbayev’s purpose-built capital over the far more louche Almaty.

He built up Astana, after declaring it his new capital in 1997, to reflect his status as the creator of a modern Kazakhstan. New buildings and towers dot the city’s skyline every year.

Now, it appears, Mr Nazarbayev has decided that it’s time for the economic and financial power to be transferred north. Both the Central Bank and Kazakhstan Stock Exchange had remained stubbornly based in Almaty, anchoring other commercial banks to the city. By wrenching the Bank to Astana, Mr Nazarbayev will pull other companies with it.

In 2013, Mr Nazarbayev replaced the popular and independent-minded Grigory Marchenko as Central Bank chief with the more pliant Kariat Kelimbetov.

At the time, the financial community speculated that the change would precede a move north to Astana by the Central Bank. This was denied. Now, it seems, this speculation has been borne out.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 232, published on May 20 2015)

Georgia splits interior ministry

MAY 17 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s government approved a plan to split the country’s much-loathed interior ministry in two.

The idea is to spin off the security and intelligence responsibilities of the interior ministry and unravel a merger created by former president Mikheil Saakashvili. He joined the two ministries together in the early part of his 2004-13 administration under the premise of cutting costs. Since then, though, its unpopularity has grown and opposition parties have pledged to break it up.

The most eye-catching part of the reform is placing the new State Security Service under parliamentary control to increase surveillance over it. The head of the State Security Service will be elected for one six year term only.

These reforms will, probably, prove popular with ordinary Georgians. They are also important at a former Soviet Union level too as they once again show Georgia’s ambitions.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 232, published on May 20 2015)

Kazakh Central Bank switches policy

MAY 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s Central Bank said it will switch its monetary policy from targeting rigorous exchange rate stability to prioritising hitting inflation targets. Analysts have criticised the Central Bank for being too inflexible with its exchange rate controls.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 232, published on May 20 2015)

Police in Azerbaijan question another businessman

MAY 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The authorities in Azerbaijan questioned businessman Ibrahim Ibrahimov over an outstanding loan from the state-linked International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA), media reported, the second high-profile Azerbaijani company owner to be hauled into a police station in a week.

Turan news agency reported that Mr Ibrahimov took a loans $57m, but sources in IBA told the news agency that the sum was actually $850m.

Last week police detained Nizami Piriyev, head of Azerbaijani Methanol Company. He was charged with financial fraud. Mr Piriyev is also charged with not repaying bank loans.

Natiq Cafarli, economist and executive director of ReAL opposition movement said in an interview with faktxeber.com that he does not expect the oligarchs to stay in jail for a long time. He said that the government just wants to recover its money.

“The ruling party does not need a lot of news around famous people,” he said. “They will be released soon.”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 232, published on May 20 2015)

Kazakhstan to join WTO in 2015

MAY 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan aims to join the World Trade Organisation (WTO) by the end of the year, PM Karim Massimov said at a meeting with Lithuanian government officials in Astana. Kazakhstan has been negotiating to join the WTO since the early 1990s.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 232, published on May 20 2015)

SOCAR becomes biggest company in Georgia

MAY 14 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Outside the financial sector, SOCAR, Azerbaijan’s state energy company, is the largest company in Georgia, media reported quoting research from Ilia University in Tbilisi. SOCAR Petroleum Georgia is a SOCAR subsidiary. Its main business in Georgia is a network of petrol stations.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 232, published on May 20 2015)

Georgian Bank’s profits rise

MAY 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – London-listed Bank of Georgia reported Q1 profit up 16% because revenue from its banking and healthcare units offset weaker contributions from insurance and real estate sectors. The results are much needed positive news after a bleak economic Q1 dominated by the falling value of the lari currency.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 232, published on May 20 2015)

Double-decker trains operate in Azerbaijan

MAY 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Swiss railway rolling stock manufacturer Stadler has won a 70m euro contract to deliver five double decker carriages to Azerbaijan’s railway company, media reported. The first two carriages will be put into operation ahead of the European Games in Baku next month.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 232, published on May 20 2015)

EU wants deal with Armenia

MAY 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Less than two years after Armenia appeared to turn its back on the EU by agreeing to sign up to the Kremlin-led Eurasian Economic Union, the EU wants to start negotiating a new treaty to deepen political and economic ties with Yerevan, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty quoted an unnamed official in Brussels as saying.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 232, published on May 20 2015)

IMF says Kazakh CBank can defend tenge

MAY 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The IMF weighed into the debate surrounding the tenge when it said the Kazakh Central Bank had enough cash to defend the currency against a sudden devaluation. The Central Bank has been under increased pressure to follow neighbours and devalue its currency.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 232, published on May 20 2015)