Category Archives: Uncategorised

Azerbaijan raises fuel prices

>>People in Baku worry that fuel price rises may also accelerate inflation>>

JAN. 12 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Oil prices may be falling on the world market but in Azerbaijan the cost of filling your car with either petrol or diesel has actually increased.

The government announced that it was putting the price of fuel up by 0.02 manat to 0.7 manat ($0.9) for a litre of petrol and 0.62 manat for diesel.

This sounds like a marginal increase only but, given the 50% drop in oil prices, actually represents a sharp rise.

Independent observers say that this is another attempt to fill the state budget, so dependent on oil revenue, with cash.

The government, though, has said the price increase was due to the inclusion of a road tax on oil products produced in Azerbaijan for domestic consumption, as well as imported from abroad.

In a suburb of Baku, 52-year-old taxi driver Ahmed Huseynov was waiting for customers at a taxi rank. It was a damp, dreary afternoon. The roads and rooftops were sodden and slippery after the first snows of the year.

“Every day we hear on the news that oil prices are decreasing which logically should have led to a decrease in fuel prices too,” he said. “I don’t understand the government’s decision.”

Azad Gayibov, 38, a school teacher and father of two, said the fuel price increases will mean careful budget planning for his family. “It does not mean an increase in fuel prices only, but also a deterioration in the entire economy.”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 214, published on Jan. 14 2015)

Kyrgyzstan boosts coal production

DEC. 27 2014, (The Conway Bulletin) — With gas supplies limited this winter, Kyrgyzstan has been reverting back to coal to keep its electricity and heating on, media reported. Media reported that state-owned coalminers produced 1.5m tonnes of coal in the first 11 months of last year, up by 22% from a year earlier.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)

Markets: Inflation worries Central Asia and South Caucasus countries

JAN. 8 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Currency woes in 2015 quickly translated into inflation across the South Caucasus and Central Asia.

Kazakhstan can be singled out as the worst performer in this department as inflation grew by a staggering 13.6% in 2015.

It was only in November that the minister of economy Yerbolat Dossayev said inflation wouldn’t surpass 10% in 2015. He was clearly wrong.

Interestingly, food prices grew significantly in Kazakhstan (+10.9%), while in Kyrgyzstan it was precisely food items that kept inflation from going too high.

Kyrgyzstan’s 11-month inflation in 2015 was 6.8% overall, but food prices decreased by 4.8% (Jan. 5).

Geostat, the Georgian statistics service, said annual inflation amounted to 4.9% in December, a 0.6% deflation compared to the previous month driven by lower transport and fuel prices, another impact of low oil prices.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 262, published on Jan. 8 2016)

Kazakh President finds new role for C.Bank ex-head

DEC. 24 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev appointed Kairat Kelimbetov, ex head of the Kazakh Central Bank, as head of the Astana Financial Centre, media reported. Mr Kelimbetov has kept a low profile since being sacked as head of the CBank in Nov. after two years in the job. The Astana Financial Centre is a state project to promote the Kazakh capital as an international finance centre.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 262, published on Jan. 8 2016)

Nazarbayev offers to host Ukraine talks

DEC. 29 2014, (The Conway Bulletin) — Senior officials, and perhaps even heads of government, from Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France have tentatively agreed to meet in Astana for talks later this month on how to resolve the ongoing civil war in Ukraine. Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev is keen to project Astana as a global centre for conflict disputes.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)

Tension rises on Turkmen border

DEC. 17 2014, (The Conway Bulletin) — Villagers in north Afghanistan have threatened to attack Turkmen soldiers who have set up guard posts 30km inside Afghan territory as a buffer against attacks from the Taliban, media reported. Turkmen officials have said that their forces have repelled several Taliban attacks.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)

Uzbekistan holds parliamentary election

DEC. 17 2014, (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan held a parliamentary election largely described as being designed to re-enforce the government’s authority. Only four pro-president parties were allowed to contest the election to the 150-seat lower house of parliament. Europe’s main election watchdog, the OSCE, said the election was uncompetitive.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)

Kazakhstan takes Guantanamo inmates

>>Former Guantanamo Bay inmates accepted as asylum seekers>>

DEC. 31 2014, (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan has taken charge of five former prisoners from the US’ controversial Guantanamo Bay prison.

The three Yemeni and two Tunisian nationals were flown to Kazakhstan and officially recorded as asylum seekers. It’s unclear, though, if they were transferred to a Kazakh prison or if they are being held elsewhere.

US President Barack Obama has said he is eager to close Guantanamo Bay prison and moving inmates to other countries is considered a politically acceptable way of achieving this.

But it’s also politically sensitive for the countries that agree to take the prisoners. Kazakh officials were eager to explain that the five prisoners, who were alleged to have links to al Qaeda but were never charged with a crime, had chosen to come to Kazakhstan.

In New York Laura Pitter, who analyses the US’ security policies for Human Rights Watch, said: “Accepting them as free men is the correct practice for Kazakhstan. The US has been detaining them unjustly and if Kazakhstan can give them a chance at a new life this should be commended.”

Still, news of the move triggered speculation over what deal had been done between Kazakhstan and the US.
In December, Yerlan Idrissov, Kazakhstan’s foreign minister, travelled to Washington for an official visit. Besides security issues, diplomatic talks were focused on economic bottlenecks such as the negotiations for Kazakhstan’s accession to the WTO.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)

KazKom profit drops on BTA buy

DEC. 11 2014, (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s Kazkommertsbank posted a drop in profit for the nine months to the end of September 2014 of 10% mainly due to its purchase of BTA Bank which has a large amount of debt, media reported. Analysts said that Kazkommertsbank bought BTA Bank for political rather than business reasons.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)

Oil shipments from Batumi, Georgia, drop

JAN. 5 2015, (The Conway Bulletin) — Crude oil and oil product shipments from the Georgian port of Batumi fell by around 22% in 2014 compared to 2013 because of lower than expected exports from Kazakhstan and re-routing through pipelines, a port official told Reuters. Batumi oil terminal is controlled by Kazakh state energy company KazMunaiGas.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)