Tag Archives: central bank

Georgia’s Ivanishvili criticises CBank chief

FEB. 26 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Bidzina Ivanishvili, Georgia’s former PM and its richest and arguably most powerful man, accused Central Bank chief Giorgi Kadagidze of not doing enough to protect the country from the economic downturn enveloping the region.

Inflation is rising in Georgia, the lari currency is falling in value and businesses are worried. This has all heaped pressure on the 34-year-old Mr Kadagidze, who has been in the top job at the Central Bank since 2009.

Mr Ivanishvili’s intervention will pile on more pressure.

“The Governor of the NBG (National Bank of Georgia), Giorgi Kadagidze, who was appointed by the previous government, led us with his inactivity and incorrect actions to the lari crisis,” he said in a statement released through an NGO he has set up.

A fall in oil prices and economic turmoil in Russia have triggered inflation across Central Asia and the South Caucasus.

Some economic experts argue that Georgia’s Central Bank could have done more to dampen the inflation; others have said the government is merely looking for a scapegoat and that Mr Ivanishvili’s intervention is destabilising.

Vakhtang Charaia, director of the Center for Analysis and Forecast at Tbilisi State University, said: “Ivanishvili’s statement could lead to political instability, which in turn would negatively affect Georgia’s investment climate.”
-ENDS-

(News report from Issue No. 221, published on March 4 2015)

Azerbaijan devalues manat by a third

FEB. 21 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s Central Bank cut the value of its manat currency overnight by a third in response to the falling value of the Russian rouble and the collapse in oil prices.

Many analysts said that a devaluation was long overdue although none expected such a sharp correction.

And, as a Bulletin correspondent reports from Azerbaijan, the devaluation has angered and frustrated local people. Ordinary people have watched as the value of their savings has plummeted, inflation has soared and economic growth rates have been cut.

This is the major risk that the Central Asian and South Caucasus economies run when trying to deal with an increasingly nasty economic downturn that has enveloped the region. They need to adjust their monetary policies while still retaining the trust of their populations.

Part of the problem has been the speed with which the economic downturn has hit the region.

Most Central Banks in Central Asia and the South Caucasus have allowed their currencies to depreciate slowly although Turkmenistan, and now Azerbaijan, have opted for a sudden devaluation this year.

Kazakhstan is still resisting another correction — it cut the value of its tenge currency by 20% last year — but it must now only be a matter of time before it succumbs.

ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 220, published on Feb. 25 2015

Kyrgyz CBank leaves rates unchanged

FEB. 24 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan’s Central Bank left its key interest rate unchanged at 11% despite inflationary pressure from a devaluing currency and falling remittances from workers based in Russia. In February, Kyrgyzstan’s inflation was measured at 10.9%.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 220, published on Feb. 25 2015)

Azerbaijani devaluation angers people

FEB. 21 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s Central Bank slashed the value of its manat currency by a third overnight, a sudden move that took businesses and ordinary Azerbaijanis by surprise.

Previously Azerbaijani officials had said that they would release the manat from its dollar peg, suggesting only a gradual devaluation to adjust to a sharp decline in the Russian rouble.

They have now justified the sudden devaluation by saying that they had little choice but to act in the face of a collapse in oil prices and economic turbulence in Russia.

“This decision was made in order to support diversification of Azerbaijan’s economy, strengthen its international compatibility and export potential as well as to provide balance of payments sustainability,” the Central Bank said in a statement.

On the streets of Azerbaijan’s towns, though, the devaluation was less generously viewed.

Veli, 29, a small business owner in Guba, a northern city, told a Bulletin correspondent that he was in shock.
“I believed the government. I kept my savings in the manat,” he said. “I lost third of my savings. It’s painful. It’s theft by the government.”

He said that he had no choice but to increase the price of the electronic goods he was selling in his shop — fuelling rising inflation.

Sahiba, a mother of two young children living in the city of Gazakh on the western border with Georgia echoed these sentiments. Her husband is a government official but has had his pay cut already this year.

“We’ve got a mortgage,” she said. “I don’t know what we’ll do.”

ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 220, published on Feb. 25 2015)

Georgia CBank props up lari

FEB. 24 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — In an effort to stop its currency from sliding further, the Georgian Central Bank said it had sold another $40m of its reserves. This is the third time this month it has sold US dollar reserves to prop up its lari currency.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 220, published on Feb. 25 2015)

Georgia Central Bank increases rates

FEB. 11 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — As expected, Georgia’s Central Bank increased its key interest rate by 50 basis points to 4.5% to try and dampen inflation. The Georgian lari has lost 8.5% of its value against the US dollar this year, increasing inflationary pressures.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 219, published on Feb. 18 2015)

Kyrgyz Central Bank spends heavily

FEB. 17 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan has spent around 10% of its currency reserves this year defending its currency from devaluing, media quoted the chairman of the Central Bank, Tolkunbek Abdygulov, as saying. The Kyrgyz som is closely linked to the Russian rouble and has devalued against the US dollar by around 20%.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 219, published on Feb. 18 2015)

Azerbaijani Central Bank spends heavily

JAN. 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s Central Bank said it spent $1.13b in December supporting its national currency — the manat — counter a falling Russian rouble and a drop in global oil prices. This represents about 8% of its total currency reserves.

ENDS

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

No devaluation says Kazakh Central Bank

NOV. 7 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kairat Kelimbetov, head of the Kazakh Central Bank, said the tenge currency would not be devalued for at least three years. The comments, made at a conference in Almaty, were the strongest indicator yet that, despite a falling rouble, the tenge would not devalue for the second time this year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 208, published on Nov.12 2014)

No devaluation says Kazakh Central Bank Chief

JUNE 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) -Rumours of another devaluation of the tenge triggered a spike in demand for dollars, media reported. The buying of dollars forced Kazakh Central Bank chief Kairat Kelimbetov to step in and deny that another tenge devaluation was planned. Kazakhstan devalued the tenge by 20% earlier this year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 187, published on JUNE 4 2014)