Tag Archives: Armenia

Armenia-Azerbaijan tension heats up

DEC. 9 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) -The Armenian-backed authorities in the disputed region of Nagorno- Karabakh accused Azerbaijani tanks of shelling its positions for the first time in nearly 20 years. Azerbaijan denied the accusation and said that the Armenian-backed rebels had been firing on their positions. Fighting around Nagorno-Karabakh has worsened over the past few years.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 260, published on Dec. 11 2015)

Armenia’s Armeneconombank and BTA merge

DEC. 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenia’s Armeneconombank said it intends to merge with BTA Bank Armenia. The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding in Almaty, confirming the deal. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development owns 20% of Armeneconombank. Kazakhstan’s BTA Bank owns 65.2% of BTA Bank Armenia. BTA Bank, in turn, is owned by Kazakhstan’s Kazkommertsbank.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 260, published on Dec. 11 2015)

Russia beefs up Armenian base

DEC. 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russia deployed seven attack helicopters to an air base outside Yerevan, Russian media reported, strengthening its operations in Armenia. Russia has a large garrison based at Gyumri, Armenia’s second city. Russia didn’t specify why it had strengthened its base.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 260, published on Dec. 11 2015)

Markets: FDI pick up in the South Caucasus and Central Asia

DEC.11 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) are picking up again in the South Caucasus and Central Asia. After a difficult year hooked around the fall in the rouble and the drop in oil prices, investors have appeared to regain confidence in the economies of Central Asia and the South Caucasus. Or at least they have decided to just get on with it and deal with the economic downturn.

At least this is what the numbers show.

In Armenia FDI, measured by Central Banks as inflow minus outflow, reached $260m in the first 9 months of the year, a 17% increase compared to the same period last year.

In Georgia, although down 17% compared to the first three quarters of 2014, FDI grew progressively throughout the year, to reach just above $1b at the end of September.

Kyrgyzstan, which saw a surge of FDI in the first half of the year, might be on track to keep the trend going due to renewed confidence in the country’s extractive sector.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 260, published on Dec. 11 2015)

Armenian hackers attack Azerbaijan

NOV. 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenian hackers broke into the Azerbaijani Central Bank network and stole personal data from thousands of people, media reported. This is the second hacker attack on Azerbaijani state websites this year. In June, hackers stole thousands of people’s data from the Azerbaijani customs website.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 259, published on Dec. 4 2015)

Stock market: Tethys Petroleum, Roxi Petroleum

DEC. 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Oil prices fell by 2.3% to $43/barrel of Brent crude this week.

Tethys Petroleum shares jumped 15% in one day on Dec. 2 to 4.88p, but fell later in the week to close at 4.50p on Friday, a 5.9% increase over the last week.

Roxi Petroleum shares fell sharply to 7p on Friday, down 10% from last week.

Gold prices rose by 2.7% this week to $1,086/ounce, which, together with positive industrial news, propped up the region’s principal gold miners.

Kyrgyzstan-focused miner Centerra Gold gained around 6% this week on the Toronto Stock Exchange, closing at 7.61 Canadian dollars on Friday.

After announcing a new financing deal for its gold deposit in Armenia, Toronto-listed gold miner Lydian International shares gained 30% in just two days. Lydian share price then fell back to 0.27 Canadian dollars on Friday.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 259, published on Dec. 4 2015)

Lydian secures funds to develop Armenian gold mine

DEC. 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Toronto-listed miner Lydian International said it had reached a $325m financing agreement to develop a gold mine in Armenia, an initiative that will boost the country’s gold output.

In a detailed statement, the company said it will receive a line of funding from US-based investment firms Orion Mine Finance and Resource Capital Funds. The money will be used to start construction at the Amulsar gold project in south- central Armenia.

Once preparation work is completed next year according to the company, Lydian forecasts a production rate of around 6 tonnes of gold per year from the Amulsar project. For a comparison, Armenia produced 3.5 tonnes of gold in 2013.

Lydian has been working on financing the project since 2006.

A fall in gold prices, down around 13% year-on-year on Dec. 1 at $1,069/ounce – a 5-year low, has put pressure on mining companies with operations in the South Caucasus and Central Asia.

Lydian’s CEO Howard Stevenson said the agreement with Orion and RCF was a major step forward, especially considering the current financial markets.

“The Financing provides over 75% of the overall financing requirement, which is a strong achievement in the current financial market,” Mr Stevenson said in a company statement

Armenian PM Hovik Abrahamyan also said the government was pleased Lydian had won backing for the project.

“The financing of the construction of the Amulsar Mine represents a significant step forward in the development of the mining industry in Armenia,” Mr Abrahamyan said in a statement.

Gold is an important cash earner for the Armenian government but although potentially lucrative for the state, the project has angered people who worry about the environmental degradation. In 2014, police dispersed a large crowd of protesters around the mine.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 259, published on Dec. 4 2015)

Armenian gold project go-ahead

DEC. 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Toronto-listed Lydian International said it had secured the $325m finance needed to exploit a major gold deposit in Armenia. The deposit at Amulsar could transform Armenia’s economy.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 259, published on Dec. 4 2015)

EBRD to boost activity in Armenia

DEC. 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said that its priorities in Armenia over the next four years would be to improve small business competitiveness, develop local capital markets and improve public utilities. The EBRD is a major investor in Armenia with over $1b worth of investments.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 259, published on Dec. 4 2015)

Armenians prepare to vote in constitutional referendum

DEC. 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia prepared to vote in a referendum which would change the constitution to give the PM more authority in a move that opposition groups have said is designed to strengthen President Serzh Sargsyan’s grip on power.

The debate over the constitution has triggered mass public protests with an estimated 3,000 people marching through Yerevan on Dec. 1 to protest against the referendum set for Dec. 6

The demonstrators said that the proposed changes were a scam to hand Mr Sargsyan more power when he leaves the presidency at the end of his final two year term in 2018.

Mr Sargsyan and his party have said that he has no plans to become PM once he quits as president.

Instead he has argued that the current system of split responsibilities between the PM and the president could create a weakness in emergencies.

Opinion polls in the run-up to the vote said it would be close with, perhaps, those who said they would vote for the changes marginally ahead.

Georgia and Kyrgyzstan have already shifted power away from their presidents to parliament and the PM. Each said the changes were needed to modernise their political systems.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 259, published on Dec. 4 2015)