Tag Archives: Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan’s GDP growth falls

OCT. 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s government said its economy would grow by only 1.8% next year compared to 4.4% this year because of low oil prices and a drop in production. Parliament also approved a national budget for 2016 of 14.6b manat ($13.9b), down by 10.4% from last year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 253, published on Oct. 23 2015)

Azerbaijan’s oil production rises

OCT. 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan produced 31.4m tonnes of oil in the first nine months of the year, around 3% more than had originally been expected, media reported quoting the state oil and gas company. This will be a relief for Azerbaijan’s government which relies on oil for its main revenue.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 253, published on Oct. 23 2015)

Azerbaijan to finance solar plants in Germany and Turkey

OCT. 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Akim Badalov, head Azerbaijan’s State Agency on Renewable Energy sources, said Azerbaijan will finance the construction of two small solar power plants in Germany and Turkey. The capacity of the prospective solar plant in Germany is 10 megawatts, according to the Trend news agency. Although still marginal, Azerbaijan’s interest in renewable energy has grown steadily in recent years.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 253, published on Oct. 23 2015)

Business comment: Opec, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan

OCT. 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — When OPEC calls, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are unlikely to answer.

OPEC, an organisation for oil exporting countries, is seeking to coordinate a cut in production with non-OPEC countries to lift oil prices.

Acting as a cartel, OPEC can determine production levels in order to control global oil prices. It has done so repeatedly over the past decades.

Strapped for cash and reliant on oil exports, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are not OPEC members and do not enjoy the same market power as Saudi Arabia or Russia.

Because their action would have little effect on oil prices they are unlikely to play OPEC’s game, according to Daniel Yergin, vice- chairman of the IHS consulting company and one of the most authoritative voices on Caspian energy issues.

“I think they will not cooperate. They (Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan) are typical non-OPEC countries who simply produce at a maximum they can,” Mr Yergin told Reuters.

Lower oil prices and ageing fields have pushed production numbers down in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan (minus 2% and 3% respectively) and they simply cannot afford to arbitrarily cut back production in concert with OPEC.

The economies of these two Caspian countries are heavily reliant on hard currency revenues from oil exports. They’ll want to keep oil production at a maximum.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 253, published on Oct. 23 2015)

Aerbaijan’s imprisoned oppo leader complains

OCT. 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The lawyer for imprisoned Azerbaijani opposition leader Ilgar Mammadov said he had been beaten by guards in prison. The accusation piles more pressure on Azerbaijan’s human rights record. It has denied entry to researchers from Amnesty International and arrested journalists and opposition activists. Mammadov was sent to prison in 2014 for inciting riots.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 253, published on Oct. 23 2015)

Azerbaijani President sacks long-serving Security Minister

OCT. 18/20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev sacked National Security Minister Eldar Mahmudov two days before police arrested seven other senior officials and accused them of abuse of office.

The move surprised analysts of Azerbaijan’s murky political scene as Mr Mahmudov had been considered a close ally of Mr Aliyev.

He had held the position as the powerful National Security Minister for 11 years and no reason was given for his dismissal. Mr Aliyev had handed him the position of National Security Minister within a year of taking over as president from his father.

Although Mr Mahmudov has not been arrested, the Azerbaijani Prosecutor-General opened criminal cases into his seven officials for abuse of office.

“Investigative operations have raised suspicions about a group of ministry officials abusing service powers, illegally intervening in the activities of entrepreneurs in violation of the law on entrepreneurship, and violating the judicially and legally protected interests of different individuals,” it said in a statement.

Human rights groups and opposition activists have previously accused Mr Aliyev of undermining his opponents by accusing them of corruption.

The arrests and the sacking of Mr Mahmudov, whether they are linked to corruption or not, add a degree of instability to Azerbaijan, already rocked by the imprisonment of journalists and opposition activists.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 253, published on Oct. 23 2015)

Azerbaijan considers 2nd devaluation

OCT. 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan is considering following Kazakhstan and allowing its manat currency to float free, the head of the Central Bank Elman Rustamov said to media, effectively warning of a another devaluation. Azerbaijan devalued its currency by 33% in February but has still had to spend billions defending its value since then.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 253, published on Oct.16 2015)

Currency reserves fall to 4-year low in Azerbaijan

OCT. 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The IMF said that rising inflation in Azerbaijan was a growing risk and the Central Bank said that its currency reserves had fallen to their lowest level for nearly four years, more data that points to a worsening outlook for the Azerbaijani economy.

In its World Economic Outlook, the IMF said that inflation would measure 5% this year in Azerbaijan, a reflection of the pressure prices have been under since February when the Central Bank devalued its manat currency by 33%.

And so are the Central Bank’s declining currency reserves.

These have fallen to just over $7b at the end of September from $7.3b in August, its lowest level since November 2011 when it was recovering from the 2008/9 Global Financial Crisis.

It’s been a steep, fast fall. At the end of 2014, Azerbaijan’s currency reserves were nearly double at $13.7b.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 251, published on Oct. 9 2015)

Iran-Azerbaijan trade rises

OCT. 7 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Trade between Azerbaijan and Iran is growing, media quoted a senior official in its eastern province as saying, and it will continue to increase as Iran strengthens ties with Russia. Iran views Azerbaijan, increasingly, as a gateway to Russia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 251, published on Oct. 9 2015)

Azerbaijan orders attack helicopter

OCT. 5 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan has ordered 60 T-129 ATAK helicopters from Turkey for $3b, media reported, part of a major upgrade to its military. Azerbaijan has openly said that it is spending a large chunk of its oil wealth on updating and modernising its military.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 251, published on Oct. 9 2015)