Tag Archives: economy

Armenia’s industrial output falls

MAY 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Industrial output in Armenia fell by 2.8% in the first three months of 2014 compared to the same period in 2013, media reported quoting the National Statistics Service.

The statistics agency did not specify why industrial output had fallen.

Economist have warned that Armenia faces a difficult year. At the end of 2013 an IMF mission to Armenia said the economy faced major challenges.

“These include responding to the slowdown of growth in 2013, low private and foreign direct investment in recent years, and relatively high poverty and unemployment,” it said in a report.

This year Armenia has moved increasingly to position itself within Russia’s orbit. It has done this for two main reasons. Both strategically and economically it needs Russia’s support.

Armenia’s relative economic weakness is pushing it faster towards Russia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 183, published on May 7 2014)

Iran to boost investment in Armenia

MAY 5 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has told Iranian businessmen that they should increase investments in neighbouring Armenia, media reported, underlining strengthening relations between the two countries. Mr Hassan made the comments during a meeting with Armenian foreign minister Edward Nalbandian who was visiting Tehran.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 183, published on May 7 2014)

IMF upgrades Uzbek growth

APRIL 30 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The IMF has upgraded Uzbekistan’s economic growth rate to 7% in 2014 from 6.5% earlier forecast, media reported. It also said that inflation would creep up to about 11% from an earlier estimate of 10.4%. Inflation has boomed in Uzbekistan and poses a real risk to the economy..

ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 183, published on May 7 2014)

Elites try to seize two Tajik bazaars

APRIL 29 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — For Western tourists bazaars in Central Asia are often quaint relics of bygone economies but for the local power elite they are strategic objects of political influence and profit.

This month, Tajik media reported efforts by state organs and affiliates of the ruling Rakhmon family to seize two large markets.

The larger of the two bazaars, just outside Dushanbe, was confiscated by a provincial court on April 21 following an investigation by anti-corruption authorities. It belonged to Muhiddin Kabiri, head of Tajikistan’s largest opposition party the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan.

A second bazaar, based in the country’s south-west Shahrtuz region, belonged to a local businessman.

Both bazaars employ over a thousand people. Moreover, Tajikistan’s bazaars are likely to grow in size and importance now the country is a member of the World Trade Organization — making them increasingly important strategic objectives.

ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 182, published on April 30 2014)

Georgia’s foreign trade grows

APRIL 24 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia’s foreign trade increased by 11.5% during the first three quarters of the year compared to the same period in 2013, the state’s statistics agency said. Compared to the first quarter of 2010, Georgia’s foreign trade is now nearly double. The figures highlight Georgia’s economic growth.

ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 182, published on April 30 2014)

Economic activity falls in Armenia

APRIL 25 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenia’s state statistics agency released figures which showed that economic activity in the first three months of the year dropped by 0.2%, media reported. The biggest fall was in industrial output. Armenia’s economy is struggling with the after effects of the global economic crisis.

ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 182, published on April 30 2014)

Turkmenistan cuts petrol subsidy

APRIL 29 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — In a surprising, and perhaps risky, move, Turkmenistan’s President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov ordered the authorities to scrap a monthly handout of petrol to car owners.

Mr Berdymukhamedov had introduced the subsidy in 2008 to ease a massive increase in the price of fuel. Mr Berdymukhamedov’s eccentric predecessor Saparmurat Niyazov had set the price of petrol at an unrealistic 2 cents per litre. Mr Berdymukhamedov wanted to raise the price to 22 cents.

Reuters quoted Turkmenistan’s state media as saying that the abolition of the fuel allowance was needed to “help sustain the growth of the national economy, achieve the efficient use of oil products and ensure their orderly converting to cash on the domestic market”.

In other words, Mr Berdymukhamedov decided that it was time to wean the population off the free fuel allowance.

Turkmenistan can, after all, afford the petrol giveaway. It has grown rich from energy exports. These exports are mainly gas. It produces roughly 10m tonnes of crude oil a year, most of which it refines into oil products locally.

Salaries are low in Turkmenistan. The sudden cut in fuel subsidies may impact people and increase resentment.

(News report from Issue No. 182, published on April 30 2014)

Property prices jump 25% in Kazakhstan’s former capital

APRIL 25 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Property prices in Almaty have risen by 25% over the past year as the economy rebounds and the city attracts migrants looking for work, media reported. Kazakhstan’s economy is still relatively fragile and the large property price increase has triggered concerns of a bubble.

(News report from Issue No. 182, published on April 30 2014)

The Tajik somoni slips against the dollar

APRIL 28 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajikistan’s somoni currency fell against the dollar, media reported, continuing its general depreciation. Like other currencies across the region, the somoni has been under pressure because of a decline in the value of the Russian rouble. Kazakhstan devalued its tenge by 20% in February.

(News report from Issue No. 182, published on April 30 2014)

Kazakhstan boosts grain exports to Iran and China

APRIL 23 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan will boost exports of grain to Iran and China as it looks to reduce its reliance on Ukrainian and Russian ports, Reuters reported quoting the Kazakh grain trading company. The switch is a possible reaction to the turmoil in Ukraine and sanctions on Russia.

(News report from Issue No. 182, published on April 30 2014)