Tag Archives: economy

Bank requirements increase in Kazakhstan

JULY 22 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kairat Kelimbetov, the Kazakh Central Bank chief, announced new measures to strengthen Kazakhstan’s banking sector. He said that from 2016, banks will have to hold capital of $30b and from 2017 $50b. Kazakhstan has been trying to protect its finance sector from future economic shocks and weed out the smaller banks.

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

Azerbaijan’s oil output continues to fall

JULY 21 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s oil output has continued to fall in 2014 despite attempts by BP, the country’s biggest foreign investor, to stem the decline. Reuters quoted a source in the Azerbaijani statistics department as saying that output was down 2.8% in the first six months of the year.

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

Tajik state-firms’ debt deepens

JULY 29 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajikistan’s national energy company Barqi Tojik has blamed another massive state-run concern, the aluminium smelter TALCO, for part of its growing $300m debt.

Over a third of Barqi Tojik’s debts are owed to a pair of hydroelectric power facilities, which TALCO officially co-owns with Russia and Iran. Other debts are unpaid taxes to the state, salary arrears, and unpaid loans.

In an interview with Asia-Plus, a Barqi Tojik official said TALCO owed the company $50 million in unpaid energy bills. TALCO, which as reported is itself suffering from a major slump in demand for its products, has denied the allegations.

Barqi Tojik and TALCO are two of Tajikistan’s most significant state-owned companies and both appear to be in trouble.

Barqi Tojik’s debts have grown as public sector clients like TALCO (which alone consumes at least a sixth of national energy production) and other major industrial facilities renege on payments. TALCO reportedly haemorrhaged $40m last year and laid off a fifth of its workforce. The company has suffered from low prices for aluminium and alleged corruption within the political elite. Tajikistan’s economy looks increasing fragile.

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

Armenia growth hit

JULY 8 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia’s government confirmed that it had lowered its economic growth predictions to 4% from 5.2% because of sanctions imposed on Russia, its most important trading partner, since it annexed Crimea from Ukraine earlier this year. Most countries in the former Soviet Union have downgraded growth estimates because of sanctions.

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(News report from Issue No. 192, published on July 9 2014)

Cash to Uzbekistan falls

JULY 7 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Remittances to Uzbekistan from workers in Russia decreased by nearly 10% in the first quarter of the year, compared to the same period in 2013, media reported quoting the Central Bank. This is roughly similar to figures reported by other countries in the former Soviet Union and reflect Russia’s weakened economic state.

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(News report from Issue No. 192, published on July 9 2014)

Armenia authorities worry about electricity

JULY 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Concerned about possible unrest connected with electricity price increases, Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan has ordered his policy chiefs to investigate whether it can soften the price rises for less well-off families, media reported.

Last month Armenia announced that it would increase the price for electricity by 10% form Aug. 1, its first price increase in two years.

Opposition politicians have said that the price increase will trigger inflation across the country and that this is just the first of several price planned price rises.

Armenia’s government has already had to negotiate through a difficult year.

A government resigned because of public unhappiness over its pension reform plans, economic growth estimates have been downgraded because of sanctions on Russia and now an electricity price increase threatens to erode the government’s popularity further.

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(News report from Issue No. 192, published on July 9 2014)

House prices rise 21% in Kazakhstan

JULY 8 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The cost of buying a home in Kazakhstan continues to rise. The latest figures from the national statistics agency showed house prices had increased by 21% in the first half of the year compared to the same period in 2014. Policymakers worry that the Kazakh housing market is hitting a bubble.

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(News report from Issue No. 192, published on July 9 2014)

Prices fall in Georgia

JULY 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Inflation in Georgia fell 0.9% from May to June, the national statistics agency reported. The biggest fall was in food and non-alcoholic drinks. The South Caucasus have seen a drop in overall prices over the last few months.

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(News report from Issue No. 192, published on July 9 2014)

Armenia jewellery production falls

JULY 8 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – More bad news for Armenia’s economy. Quoting the state’s statistics agency, media reported that jewellery production in Armenia had fallen by a third this year between January and May. It did not say why production had fallen although sanctions on Russia have impacted Armenia’s economy.

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(News report from Issue No. 192, published on July 9 2014)

Chinese firm boosts Tajik cement output

JULY 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – An official at the Tajik ministry for industry told the Asia Plus news agency that the country was a step closer to cement self-sufficiency thanks largely to the work of Huaksin Gayur Cement, a factory completed last year that can produce 1m tonnes of cement annually.

That figure dwarfs the productive capacity of national champion Tajik Cement, which produces four or five times less. Tajikistan consumes 1.5m tonnes of cement per year and imports from Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Iran and Russia.

The 75% Chinese-owned enterprise in the capital Dushanbe is one of several key Chinese investments to have popped up in Tajikistan over the last year. In addition to building heating plants for Dushanbe and Tajikistan’s second city, Khujand, China has begun construction of an oil refinery in Khatlon province that will almost meet Tajikistan’s domestic fuel needs.

Factory-by-factory, Beijing is also easing the employment crisis in the world’s most remittance-dependent country. Huaksin Gayur Cement has provided over 400 local jobs. The Khatlon refinery will provide a similar number.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 192, published on July 9 2014)

China’s investment surge in impoverished Tajikistan is beginning to show results.