Tag Archives: business

Kazakhstan to sell Air Astana stakes

MAY 10 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan will sell stakes in Air Astana, oil and gas company Kazmunaigas and its state nuclear agency Kazatomprom by the end of 2019 at the latest, Kazakh Finance Minister Bakhyt Sultanov told Reuters. The new deadline appears to be an extension of previous estimates given which said that Kazakhstan would sell stakes in major companies owned by the state before the end of 2017.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 328, published on May 12 2017)

Kazakhstan restarts oil exports via BTC

Leave a Reply

MAY 11 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan has started shipping oil through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline for the first time since mid-2015, media reported quoting the Azerbaijani energy ministry, an indication that the country’s oil production has picked up. BTC is considered an important part of the region’s energy infrastructure as it pushes oil from the Caspian Sea to Turkey. Kazakhstan had cut its oil production as prices fell. The Azerbaijani energy ministry said that 90,000 tonnes of oil from Kazakhstan have been pumped through BTC already this year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 328, published on May 12 2017)

EBRD lends for irrigation to Kazakhstan

Leave a Reply

MAY 10 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) signed a deal with Kazakhstan to lend it $180m to update and integrate its irrigation systems. The modernisation and update of the system is considered vital to boosting output in Kazakhstan agriculture, an increasingly important part of the Kazakh economy.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 328, published on May 12 2017)

John Deere tractors arrive to Turkmenistan

Leave a Reply

MAY 9 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan has ordered 1,350 pieces of equipment from US tractor maker John Deere, media reported. The first equipment to arrive in Ashgabat were 50 combine harvesters. More equipment is expected later this year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 328, published on May 12 2017)

Azerbaijan steps in to help Iran

Leave a Reply

MAY 5 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan has said that it is prepared to send extra electricity to Iran in the event of a shortfall, media reported. The offer is more evidence, if more was needed, of the interlocking nature of the economies and markets of Central Asia, the South Caucasus and Iran. It also underlines how Azerbaijan has transformed itself over the last few years from an electricity importer to an electricity exporter.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 328, published on May 12 2017)

Georgia Healthcare boosts profit

Leave a Reply

TBILISI, MAY 8 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia Healthcare Group reported a surge in revenue linked to its new pharmaceuticals business, underlining its position as one of the Central Asia/South Caucasus region’s best-performing stocks.

Shortly after announcing that revenue in the first quarter of the year had more than doubled to 186.6m lari ($76.5m) from 72.6m lari in 2016, Georgia Healthcare Group shares listed on the London Stock Exchange hit 370p. This was just shy of an all-time high of 379p reached earlier this year.

In a statement Georgian Healthcare, whose core business is running hospitals and health services, said that the addition of a pharmaceutical business had boosted its revenue.

“Our key focus during the first quarter of 2017 has been to ensure the successful integration of the newly-acquired Pharmadepot business,” it said in a statement.

Georgia Healthcare said it had a 29% share of the pharmaceuticals sector. It is Georgia’s largest healthcare provider, operating over 2,500 hospital beds, 23% of the market.

Georgia’s healthcare system has been revolutionized by the Georgian Dream government who introduced a variant of the Universal Healthcare model in 2013.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 328, published on May 12 2017)

Azerbaijan’s IBA misses debt interest payments

Leave a Reply

MAY 11 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA), the biggest bank in the country and vital to its economy, said it had missed interest payments on loans, another sign it is struggling to stay solvent under the weight of mounting bad debt.

Azerbaijani finance minister Samir Sharifov also appealed to creditors to be patient while IBA restructured its debt. He said the bank would not pay interest on liabilities until this process was complete.

In the US, IBA applied for protection under Chapter 15 of the Bankruptcy Code. This protects the bank from being pursued by creditors while it restructures its debt.

Analysts have said all year that IBA is in serious danger of collapsing. In January, the government increased its stake in the bank to 76.7% from 55% in an admission that without state support the bank would fail.

Azerbaijan’s economy has been hit hard by a collapse in oil prices since 2014.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 328, published on May 12 2017)

Uzbekistan establishes business ombudsman

Leave a Reply

MAY 8 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan has established an ombudsman of sorts to promote business interests, media reported. Under a decree signed by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the new body will promote dialogue between businesses and various state bodies. Businesses have been urging Mr Mirziyoyev, president since September last year, to improve the business environment.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 328, published on May 12 2017)

Iran says it is ready to sue Turkmenistan over gas cuts

Leave a Reply

MAY 8 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Iranian officials said they were ready to sue Turkmenistan in an international arbitration court for cutting gas supplies this winter, ramping up tension between the neighbours.

The announcement highlights just how far relations between Iran and Turkmenistan have splintered since Turkmen officials said last year that Iran hadn’t paid a $1.8b bill for gas delivered in 2007 and 2008.

In a statement quoted by Iranian media, Hamid Reza Araqi, managing director of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC), said Turkmenistan had failed its commitments.

“The price of gas, the damage they inflicted on Iran in winter by cutting off gas supplies, and the quality of gas delivered to Iran are three cases claimed by Iran,” he was quoted as saying. “Iran’s documents are ready to be submitted to the International Court of Arbitration.”

To some extent the row shows the strain an economic downturn has put countries and their leaders under. Before Turkmen officials accused Iran of reneging on bills, relations had been improving every month. As well as gas supplies Turkmen electricity was being imported, political links had been strengthened and there was talk of Iran providing Turkmenistan with access to the Persian Gulf through a swap system.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 328, published on May 12 2017)

Kazakhstan sees Brazil as a potential uranium market

Leave a Reply

MAY 5 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan has offered to sell uranium to Brazil to cover a shortfall in Brazilian production, media reported quoting Kazakh deputy foreign minister Yerzhan Ashikbayev. Reports said that he had met with Brazilian officials who were looking for help to feed its two nuclear power stations with uranium. Brazil has abundant supplies of unmined uranium but miners have struggled to win environmental licenses to mine it, forcing the power stations to import most of the uranium.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 328, published on May 12 2017)