Tag Archives: economy

Uzbekistan wants migrants to return

SEPT 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Regions across Uzbekistan have started work on a government edict to try and lure the thousands of Uzbeks working abroad back home, even though the economy is looking decidedly dodgy and the chances of full time employment are low.

Uznews.net, an Uzbek opposition website, reported that Samarkand, the second largest city in the country, has proposed all migrants who return will get given a job.

“I witnessed people like myself being forced to live a nomadic life in dirty conditions, without rights in a foreign land,” the website reported one Samarkand resident as saying in a propaganda drive.

“If we were to work as hard at home as we work in Russia, we would make good money.”

The drive to persuade migrants to return to Uzbekistan apparently came in July from Uzbek PM Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

It also coincided with news that Russia was going to make it more difficult for migrants to enter and also that the sanctions imposed on Russia since fighting in Ukraine started has reduced demand for casual migrant workers. This may have dampened demand for migrants from Central Asia who would typically do the cleaning and building jobs around Moscow and other large Russian cities.

Even so, Uzbekistan relies heavily on remittances from workers based in Russia and working on a campaign to encourage them back home is likely to be counter- productive.

Uzbekistan has plenty of infrastructure of its own to deal with, including crumbling road, rail and power networks, so, possibly, calling on more people to move back to Uzbekistan is counter productive.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 198, published on Sept. 3 2014)

Inflation climbs in Kazakhstan

SEPT. 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Inflation in Kazakhstan edged up to 7.1% for the year to end-August, the top of the Central Bank’s bandwidth. The Central Bank aims to keep inflation between 6% and 8%. Central Asia’s economies have been under pressure from the sanctions on Russia. Inflation increased by 0.4% in August.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 198, published on Sept. 3 2014)

Azerbaijan’s real estate boom

AUG. 29 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Along with Azerbaijan’s economy its real estate market is growing in size and maturity.

Media reports quoted figures released by the Central Bank saying that turnover in the real estate sector had grown by nearly 30% in the first six months of the year compared to the same time last year.

These figures are important, and they generally follow a trend across all the macro-economic data in Azerbaijan, but there is also more to the story.

In an interview with the abc.az news website, Yalchin Osmanov, a real estate manager in Baku, explained how the market was maturing.

“Previously, the market was more chaotic, as far as the prices are concerned,” he said. “Now the prices are distinctly graded by real estate location, quality of buildings and many other factors.”

So, the market is more organised with more transparent prices, but what about the buyers?

Mr Osmanov, again, explained.

“Previously people preferred to purchase real estate by cash, now most people rely on long-term credit or purchase in instalments with an initial contribution and subsequent monthly payments,” he said.

Again, this correlates with a general rise in consumer borrowing in Azerbaijan. The main risk to the economy from the real estate sector is unchecked or poorly planned consumer borrowing. International analysts have already warned Azerbaijan that is needs to rein this in.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 198, published on Sept. 3 2014)

Kazakhstan’s Halyk Bank posts strong data

AUG. 22 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Halyk Bank, Kazakhstan’s second largest lender, increased its full year profit estimate by 10% to 100m tenge ($550m) after a strong first half of the year. The data is positive for Kazakhstan’s banking sector which is looking to rebound from the Global Financial Crisis.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 197, published on Aug. 27 2014)

Kazakhstan’s economy grows 4%

AUG. 18 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s economy grew by 4% between January and July, Alikhan Smailov, head of the Kazakh statistics committee, said. This is lower than predicted at the start of the year because of the impact of sanctions on Russia over its alleged arming of rebels in Ukraine.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 196, published on Aug. 20 2014)

Azerbaijan to export energy to Iraq

AUG.12 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan has said it will export power to Iraq and Afghanistan, media reported. The deal is particularly important for the US which has urged Azerbaijan to increase its involvement in regional politics. Azerbaijan has become relatively rich through oil and gas exports.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 195, published on Aug. 13 2014)

Georgian wine exports grow

AUG. 5 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Exports of Georgian wine, a national icon for Georgia, nearly doubled in the first seven months of the year, media reported quoting the national wine agency. Most of this increase, the agency reported, was to Russia which has reopened its markets to Georgian products over the last year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 194, published on Aug. 6 2014)

Kazakh bank restructures debt

AUG. 4 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s Alliance Bank agreed a debt restructuring deal with creditors ahead of a merger with Temirbank and ForteBank, owned by Kazakh billionaire Bulat Utemuratov. It’s an important deal for the government, which owns 51% of Alliance Bank and has been looking to sell it.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 194, published on Aug. 6 2014)

Turkmen GDP jumps

JULY 25 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Releasing GDP figures for post-Soviet states inthe first quarter of the year, theEuropean Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said Turkmenistan’s economy had grown by 10.3%. Gas sales, mainly to China, have boosted Turkmen GDP enormously.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 193, published on July 30 2014)

Tajik aluminium company halves production

JULY 25 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – TALCO, Tajikistan’s aluminium smelter and its most important industrial asset, cut production by nearly 50% in the first half of the year to 61,100 tonnes because of a fall in demand, media reported quoting an official. TALCO is the mainstay of Tajikistan’s economy.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 193, published on July 30 2014)