FEB. 28 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Kazakh Central Bank scrapped a two-year valuation corridor for the tenge in favour of a managed float. Kazakhstan introduced a 145-155 tenge/$1 corridor in Feb. 2009 after it devalued the tenge by 18% during the global financial crisis. Rising oil, grain and metals prices have pushed up the value of the tenge.
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(News report from Issue No. 29, published on Feb. 28 2011)
DEC. 23 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) – Credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s raised its sovereign foreign currency rating on Kazakhstan to BBB from BBB-. It said the upgrade reflected Kazakhstan’s rebound from the global recession. Ratings service Moody’s has already upgraded Kazakhstan to Baa2. Fitch retains a BBB-rating.
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(News report from Issue No. 21, published on Jan. 4 2011)
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SEPT. 16 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan will keep its manat currency pegged to the US dollar and the euro while its economy improves, the head of the Central Bank, Elman Rustamov, told Bloomberg. Azerbaijan pegged the manat’s exchange rate in March 2009 during a downturn in the global economy.
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(News report from Issue No. 8, published on Sept. 23 2010)
SEPT. 23 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s economy is reliant on oil and gas. It has rebounded this year after a heavy slump in the world economy and oil prices combined in 2009 to knock growth.
In August, the ratings agency Moody’s upgraded the Azeri banking sector to stable from negative, reflecting Azerbaijan’s improving economy. Moody’s said the Azeri economy remained vulnerable to external shocks but “the banks are also benefiting from relatively stable macroeconomic conditions”.
In an interview with Bloomberg, the head of Azerbaijan’s Central Bank, Elman Rustamov, echoed this sentiment. He said Azerbaijan’s economy would grow by 4-5% this year compared to a 14% fall in 2009 but that he wanted to keep Azerbaijan’s currency, the manat, pegged at 0.803 to the US dollar for the rest of the year.
Mr Rustamov said the manat peg was important to stop the currency strengthening too quickly and damaging the non-oil sector’s recovery.
The manat has gained 12.5% against the dollar since redenomination in January 2006.
Oil makes up 93% of Azerbaijan’s exports and the average price per barrel has been 37% higher this year compared to 2009, Mr Rustamov said. Oil production will remain at around 50m tonnes this year, roughly the same as 2009. In 2008, Azeri oil production was 44.5m tonnes.
Mr Rustamov said that inflation would rise to about 10% this year.
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(News report from Issue No. 8, published on Sept. 23 2010)
