Tag Archives: economy

Turkmenistan to boost cereal crops

MAY 27 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Looking to boost production in the long run, Turkmenistan’s government said it would set up a state commission to improve the growing and transportation of cereal crops, media reported. Turkmenistan has grown increasingly rich from its gas exports. Cereal crop production has also grown.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 186, published on May 28 2014)

Georgia’s TBC Bank plans IPO

MAY 27 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – TBC Bank is aiming to be the second Georgian company to list on the stock exchange in London. It named a price range for its shares at its proposed IPO at the end of June of between $13 and $16.

This is an important IPO for Georgia and the wider former Soviet Union. For Georgia, TBC Bank will be the first IPO since the end of Mikheil Saakashvili’s era as president. For the wider former Soviet Union, it will test investors’ appetite for buying into the region while the conflict in Ukraine appears to be worsening.

Rival Bank of Georgia floated on the London Stock Exchange in 2006 and is now part of the FTSE-250.

TBC Bank, valued at nearly $800m, aims to float around 50% of its stock in the IPO. It is the biggest bank in Georgia in terms of retail deposits, with a 33% share of the market.

The TBC floatation will also be a test of how investors view the Georgian economy. It has improved over the last year, partly because relations with Russia have improved, but there are still plenty of weaknesses. Inflation is still stubbornly low and direct foreign investment, so important, is taking some time to pick up again.

Still, with the South Caucasus’ status as a transit region for cargo and energy products between the Caspian Sea and Europe growing, Georgia has experienced an economic re-bound.

The TBC IPO at the end of June will be a good indication of how investors feel about the region.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 186, published on May 28 2014)

PM unveils plan for new Black Sea port in Georgia

May 14 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia will start building a deep water port on its Black Sea coast to cope with an expected surge in cargo being transported across the South Caucasus and on to Europe.

Georgian PM Irakli Garibshvili appeared to slip in news of the planned construction, almost casually, during comments he made at a Georgia-France business forum.

“We expect that Georgia’s demand for transport and logistics will increase,” the Trend news agency quoted Mr Garibashvili as saying.

“Therefore, we have decided to construct a deep-sea port in the Black Sea (Anaklia), to better serve the rapidly growing business in transportation and warehousing sectors.”

There has been something of an infrastructure boom across the South Caucasus.

The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline pumps oil from the Caspian Sea to Turkey, generating revenue for the transit countries and plans for more pipelines will also push up earnings.

What Mr Garibashvili was talking about though is physical cargo transported from the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea. Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey have combined to modernise the co-called Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway. This is predominantly a trade route used to transit goods. Although it doesn’t finish in Anaklia it will still benefit the port town just north of Poti.

Increased trade across the South Caucasus is set to give Georgian industry a much needed boost.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 185, published on May 21 2014)

Improved loan book boosts Kazakh Halyk Bank

May 19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Halyk Bank, the second largest bank in Kazakhstan, said its profit in the first three months of the year had almost doubled. Importantly, Halyk said much of this profit increase was due to a fall in the amount of poor loans on its books, an issue Kazakh banks have been grappling with since the 2008/9 economic crisis.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 185, published on May 21 2014)

Tajikistan to work on economy with Afghanistan

May 20 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajikistan and Afghanistan are discussing setting up economic free zones, media reported after a meeting between their economy ministers in Dushanbe. Although no agreements were signed, this is a sign that Central Asian states want to incorporate Afghanistan into their economic area.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 185, published on May 21 2014)

Azerbaijani industry rises

May 19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Industrial production in Azerbaijan increased by 5.1% in the first 4 months of the year, the state stats committee reported. The data is more good news for Azerbaijan’s economy. Last month, the Central Bank cut interest rates to its lowest level for three years.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 185, published on May 21 2014)

Improved loan book boosts Kazakh bank

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 185, published on May 21 2014)

Electronic transactions rise in Armenia

May 19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia increased by 14% the amount of transactions completed through their bank cards or credit cards during the first quarter of the year compared to the same period a year earlier, media reported. This is important as it highlights increased consumer sophistication in Armenia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 185, published on May 21 2014)

China increases mining activities in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan

May 19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajik president Emomali Rakhmon held talks in Dushanbe with Wan Zhenhua of Zijin Mining’s Zarafshon copper-gold- silver mining company in Khujand, Tajikistan (May 19).

Reports made the meeting sound rather Soviet. They listed the various social achievements which included finding work for 2,000 people since 2007 and noting that Chinese investment has reached $235m. The mine now produces half Tajikistan’s total gold production.

But the real story is elsewhere.

Typically, gold mining projects can take up to seven years to become profitable, while red tape surrounding license issuance and political unrest in Central Asia can considerably extend timeframes.

State-owned Zijin, China’s largest gold producer, also owns a gold mine in Kyrgyzstan’s Chui province. In Kyrgyzstan, Zijin had to evacuate roughly 250 employees from their operation in Orlovka village, Chui, in 2012 when one of their excavators reportedly killed a local’s horse, triggering an attack on the company’s offices.

Given the reluctance of other foreign investors to mine in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, some believe China’s interest in mining projects is about strategic control of mineral wealth in the two countries, rather than money.

“Chinese companies take on projects that in my mind are not profitable,” Valentin Bogdetski, head of the Kyrgyz Miners Association told the Conway Bulletin.

“Last year, a Chinese firm won a license for an iron ore concession in Zhetim-Too [Naryn province]. But this ore has little market value, so why do they want the license?”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 185, published on May 21 2014)

Armenian farmers ask for loans to be cancelled

May 20 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – A row is brewing in Armenia over whether banks should write off loans to farmers as a form of compensation for damage to their crops caused by a cold snap in March.

Despite pressure from farming unions, Armenia’s Central Bank chief, Artur Javadyan, said that banks could not simply write-off the loans.

Mr Javadyan said that banks could not risk financing farmers who already receive beneficial loan rates. The government partly pays the interest on loans to farmers.

“We have no right to force the banks to risk deposit holders’ and stockholders’ funds,” he said according to reports.

A heavy snow storm on March 30 seriously damaged crops in Armenia and farmers have asked for compensation. The row highlights just how important farming is in Armenia.

Rural Armenia is poor and the farmers often merely scrape a living. They are heavily reliant on loans and beneficial rates from the government.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 185, published on May 21 2014)