Tag Archives: economy

Tajikistan’s cotton production uses forced labour

NOV. 17 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajikistan claims it is on track for a cotton production target many thought unrealistic when the government announced it earlier in the year.

Avesta.tj, the Dushanbe-based news agency, quoted the country’s ministry of agriculture as saying 373,000 tonnes of its 408,000 tonne target have already been gathered.

Cotton plays a key part in Central Asia’s economy, although it is controversial as human rights campaigners have criticised all the Central Asian states of using forced labour to pick the harvest.

In 2013, the US State Department Trafficking in Persons report said: “Some Tajik children and possibly some adults were subjected to agricultural forced labor in Tajikistan — mainly during the fall 2012 cotton harvest — but this exploitation occurred to a lesser degree than in 2011.”

That may be because cotton production itself has become steadily less profitable. Typically, Tajikistan exports raw cotton to Russia, China, Turkey and Iran. Efforts to develop finished cotton products in the country’s mills have been harmed by chronic electricity shortages that tend to begin right after the season finishes.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 209, published on Nov.19 2014)

Kazakh tenge celebrated a not-so-happy birthday

NOV. 19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – In Kazakhstan, November 15 is the Day of the National Currency, a little-known holiday for workers in the financial sector.

With the Kazakh tenge under pressure again despite a 20% devaluation earlier this year, they and the national currency will be grateful for the rest.

The tenge was born in 1993, after Kazakhstan’s independence from the Soviet Union.

It had a bumpy ride with initial inflation, matching concerns about the viability of an independent Kazakhstan. The exchange rate against the dollar jumped from an initial 4.75 to 35 within two months.

A dollar peg provided some stability — even if it was shaky — for the tenge during the second half of the 1990s but the Russian and Asian crises forced a new market- driven devaluation. Between April and September 1999, the tenge lost one third of its value against the greenback.

A corner, though, was turned at the start of the 21st century and with Kazakhstan maturing as a country so did its currency. Fiscal responsibility helped keep down inflation in the early 2000s, oil prices slowly rose, giving Kazakhstan’s fledging energy sector a boost.

Then came two devaluations of 20%. The first in Feb. 2009 and the second five years later.

With the US Federal Reserve easing its policy of cheap money and preparing to raise interest rates, pressure on emerging currencies, including the tenge, is likely to increase.

Aged 21, the tenge has already had an eventful existence.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 209, published on Nov.19 2014)

Kumtor slowdown costs Kyrgyzstan

NOV. 11 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan will lose $65m in revenue this year because of a delay in restructuring the Kumtor gold mining project, the country’s biggest industrial operation, media quoted Eldar Tadzhibayev, head of the Kyrgyz mining union, as saying. Kumtor has been the focus of a major row between Kyrgyzstan and its Canadian partners.

ENDS

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

Armenia remittances fall

NOV. 6 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Remittances to Armenia from Russia were 8.6% lower in September this year than in the same month in 2013, media reported quoting the Central Bank. Armenia’s economy is closely linked to Russia which is suffering from a severe downturn triggered by a falling oil price and Western imposed sanctions.

ENDS

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

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)

Rolls Royce opens in Kazakhstan

NOV. 5 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Luxury carmaker Rolls Royce has opened its first showroom in Kazakhstan, media reported, underlining how attractive the country still is for high-end goods despite a recent downturn in the economy. Rolls Royce is owned by Germany’s BMW and joins most other carmakers with a showroom in Almaty.

ENDS

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

Armenia joins tourist route

NOV. 10 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Aiming to give tourism a lift, Armenia said it would join the EU-funded Black Sea Silk Road Corridor which already includes Georgia, Turkey and Greece. The focus of the corridor is a 3,000km path that weaves through 150 cultural sites. Armenia’s government has earmarked tourism as a way of boosting the economy.

ENDS

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

Non-oil exports still low in Azerbaijan

NOV. 7 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s exports totalled $24.4b in the nine months to the end of September, media reported quoting the state statistics agency, but only $1.2b of this figure came in non-energy products. The figure highlights just how dependent Azerbaijan is on energy exports.

ENDS

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

Inflation increases in Kyrgyzstan

NOV. 6 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has predicted that inflation in Kyrgyzstan will hit 10% in 2015 after it joins the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union. The biggest jump in prices, the ADB said, will be a 30% rise in petrol when prices are brought into line with Kazakhstan and Russia.

ENDS

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

Oil price fall was wake-up call for Kazakhstan

NOV. 10 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The sharp fall in the price of oil has acted as a wake-up call for Kazakhstan, economy minister Kairat Kelimbetov said in an interview with the FT.

Virtually admitting that Kazakhstan had been caught off guard by the decline by roughly a third in the price of oil since June, Mr Kelimbetovsaid that the government was the economy and to make it planning measures to shore up more attractive to investors.

“Next month the government will be ready to announce some counter cyclical fiscal policy, with big plans in infrastructure,” he said in the interview in Almaty.

Economists have warned that a devaluing rouble and falling oil prices will combined to knock Kazakhstan’s growth rate.

And the falling economy is also knocking investor confidence. Energy analyst Sergei Smirnov said that with Brent oil prices falling to a four year low of $82/barrel it makes projects such as Kashagan unprofitable.

“Offshore oil production is always much more expensive than onshore production,” he said according to media.

Kazakh officials who have staked their credibility and the country’s economic prosperity on Kasahgan but the project is already behind schedule and running over budget.

ENDS

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