Tag Archives: business

Power exports to run alongside TAPI, say Turkmen officials

JAN. 19 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan said it wanted to build an electricity transmission line alongside the so-called TAPI gas pipeline that, if it all goes to plan, will pump Turkmen gas to Pakistan and India, across Afghanistan, potentially challenging the World Bank-backed CASA-1000 project which will supply Pakistan with electricity generated by hydropower stations in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Turkmenistan has been building gas-fuelled power stations and wants to become known for its electricity, and gas, exports.

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(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)

Petrol prices rise in Azerbaijan

JAN. 13 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s state-owned oil and gas company, Socar, said that it was going to raise the price it charges consumers for high octane Super Euro 98 petrol to 1.05 manat per litre from 0.95 manat per litre. Azerbaijan imports Super Euro 98 petrol. The sliding value of the manat versus the US dollar means that the cost of imports has increased.

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(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)

Sweden’s Telia accuses Tajikistan of slapping it with bogus tax bill

JAN. 17 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Telia Company, the Swedish telecoms company, accused the Tajik government of posting a bogus tax claim against its Tajikistan-based subsidiary Tcell.

In a statement, the head of Telia’s Eurasia division, Emil Nilsson, said that the tax authorities in Tajikistan had handed Tcell a claim for May 2015 to June 2016 of 155m somoni ($19.6m) — more than the company’s entire revenue for 2015.

“We are very concerned with the situation which we believe is totally unacceptable,” Mr Nilsson said.

Central Asia governments have previously tried to raise revenue by slapping large fines for tax violations on Western companies. And this is exactly what Telia, in its abrupt statement, said was the scenario currently playing out with the Tajik authorities.

“The Tajik operator Tcell has appealed what is considered to be an illegal tax claim,” it said in the statement entitled ‘Telia appeals illegal tax claims in Tajikistan’. “The authorities in Tajikistan are basing their tax claim on revenue that Tcell has never generated, so called ‘un- realised revenue’.”

The Tajik authorities may feel that Tcell is vulnerable. Telia is trying to offload its businesses in Central Asia and the South Caucasus after a corruption scandal in Uzbekistan was uncovered that tarnished Telia’s global image and damaged Central Asia’s reputation for governance.

In September 2016, Telia agreed to sell its 60% stake in Tcell to the Aga Khan for $39m. The Aga Khan already owns 40% of the company.

In its statement, Telia said that it had expected the deal to be signed off by the Tajik authorities by the end of 2016. This has been delayed, though, without clear reason, Telia said.

The Tajik authorities have not commented on either the tax-linked fine or the delay in granting permission for Aga Khan to buy Telia’s stake in Tcell.

Tajikistan’s economy has been hit hard by a recession in Russia, making finding potential buyers for Tcell difficult.

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(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)

Kazakh car manufacturing slides

ALMATY, JAN. 18 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Car manufacturing in Kazakhstan fell by around a third in 2016 to 8,397, dragged down by a stagnant economy.

The disappointing data, released by the Kazakh state statistics committee, is even more stark when laid alongside earlier, pre-economic downturn aspirations. In 2013, with oil prices hovering above $100/barrel, double today’s prices, and with domestic consumer demand buoyant, foreign carmakers were lining up to cut deals with local producers to get their models into the market.

Back then, industry officials were predicting that Kazakhstan would produce over 50,000 cars in 2014.

The economic downturn been so devastating on Kazakhstan’s industrial base, that the government has said that it will step in and subsidise the car industry.

Kazakhstan’s Auto Business Association said that official car dealers’ sales sharply dropped in 2016 to 46,712 cars from 97,469 in 2015.

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(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)

Agriculture investment rises in Kazakhstan

JAN. 18 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan increased investment in its agriculture sector by 50%, in US dollar terms, in 2016, media reported quoting a senior official at KazAgroFinance. Tuleugazy Seisenovm described as general manager of Assets of the Inspection Department at the state-owned KazAgroFinance, said that the government had spent $686m on investments in agriculture this year compared to $446m in 2015. Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev has ordered his officials to diversify investment away from the dominating oil and gas sector.

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(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)

Gulf Air to fly to Georgian capital

JAN. 17 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Gulf Air, the national carrier of Bahrain, said it will start up a three- times a week service to Tbilisi. The move is just the latest announcement from an international airline to connect with Tbilisi. In December Qatar said it would fly to Tbilisi four times per week. Passenger numbers at Tbilisi airport have increased by 50% from 2010. It is building a new arrivals terminal to deal with the larger passenger flow.

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(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)

Armenian aviation numbers grow

JAN. 13 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Yerevan’s Zvartnots International Airport reported passenger growth of 10.4% in 2016 compared to 2015, media reported. It said that just over 2.1m people had used Armenia’s main airport without giving a reason for the rise.

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(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)f

Tajikistan to resume Air-links talks with Russia

JAN. 19 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Talks between Russia and Tajikistan over restarting air-links, vital for Tajikistan’s remittance-dependent economy, will resume on Jan. 26, media reported. Both countries cut air-links in December after a row. Without the vital air-link to Moscow and other major Russian cities, young Tajik men will not be able to travel to Russia, the source of most of the remittance cash.

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(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)

Kazakh cement maker reports soft market

JAN. 13 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Steppe Cement, the London-listed Kazakhstan-based cement producer, posted full year results which showed a 4% drop in production and a 4% fall in prices because of a fall in demand. Steppe Cement’s main market is Kazakhstan which has been struggling to maintain economic output because of a drop in oil and gas prices, a recession in Russia and fall in the value of the tenge. Steppe Cement said it was going to focus on maintaining prices over market share in 2017.

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(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)

Georgia president criticises new gas deal

TBILISI, JAN. 17 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili criticised a high-profile gas deal struck with Russia by energy minister Kakha Kaladze as a threat to national security, exposing a deep fissure in Georgia’s politics.

Commenting on a new agreement that will see Russia pay to transport gas across Georgia to Armenia, instead of giving Georgia 10% of the volume on a barter arrangement, Mr Margvelashvili’s official spokesperson, Eka Mishveladze, said Mr Kaladze was playing a high-risk game.

“The issue of Gazprom is more than just a business agreement, this is security, foreign policy and geopolitics first and energy and economy after that,” she said.

Although elected on a Georgian Dream ticket, Mr Margvelashvili has increasingly distanced himself from his former colleagues, preferring to present himself as an independent voice. Georgia is set for a presidential election in 2018.

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(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)