APRIL 15 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s economy grew by 3.1% in the first three months of the year compared to the same period in 2012, Reuters quoted official data as showing. This rate is far quicker than the first quarter of 2012. Most of the growth occurred outside the energy sector.
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(News report from Issue No. 132, published on April 22 2013)
APRIL 10 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Perhaps wary of potential civil strife, Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev called on his government to try to spread Kazakhstan’s increasing wealth more evenly.
Signs of inequalities in Kazakhstan are not hard to find. In Almaty, the latest Western SUV competes for road space with battered and rusting second-hand cars. Street vendors sell shashlik, barbequed meat on skewers, for a few tenge across the street from restaurants charging hundreds of dollars for dishes cooked by a French chef.
And these inequalities are potentially dangerous, as a demonstration in the western town of Zhanaozen on Dec. 14 2011 that ended with the death of at least 14 protesters showed. The Kazakh government blamed inequality and a lack of job opportunities for the demonstration.
Now Mr Nazarbayev has said that more can be done. Specifically, he said that roughly 8% of families in Kazakhstan lived off $100 per person per month. According to the World Bank, which measures inequality using the Gini coefficient, Kazakhstan has a sizeable inequality gap. That gap, though, is slowly reducing.
The Gini coefficient measures inequality using a score of zero to 100, zero being perfectly equal. The latest data on the World Bank’s website showed that Kazakhstan scored 29 in 2009, down from 33.9 in 2003. This compares favourably with its neighbours and is lower than many European countries.
Still, as Mr Nazarbayev knows, perception is ever important.
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(News report from Issue No. 131, published on April 12 2013)
APRIL 12 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – Remittances to Kyrgyzstan from workers living mainly in Russia jumped by 23% in the first two months of the year compared to the same period in 2012, local media quoted the Kyrgyz Central Bank as saying. Like neighbouring Tajikistan, remittances are a vital part of Kyrgyzstan’s economy.
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(News report from Issue No. 131, published on April 12 2013)
APRIL 8 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan has attracted 80% of all foreign direct investment in Central Asia since 1993, media in Baku quoted Kazakh first deputy PM Bakytzhan Sagintayev as saying at a conference.
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(News report from Issue No. 131, published on April 12 2013)
APRIL 5 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan started the sale of its second largest gold deposit, Jerooy, despite a $400m arbitration case levied by Kazakh investors
Visor Capital, Reuters reported. The Kyrgyz authorities tore up the previous sale of Jerooy after a revolution in 2010. Investors have become increasingly wary of Kyrgyzstan.
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(News report from Issue No. 130, published on April 5 2013)
APRIL 1 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkish Airlines cancelled its first flight to Armenia, a transport link that had been designed to ease tension between the two neighbours. Turkish Airlines had been due to fly twice weekly from Van in eastern Turkey to Yerevan. Azerbaijan, still officially at war with Armenia, persuaded Turkey, its long-term ally, to scrap the flights.
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(News report from Issue No. 130, published on April 5 2013)
APRIL 2 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s Central Bank kept interest rates at a record low of 5.5% due to continued sluggish inflation data. It last cut interest rates in August 2012. The Kazakh economy grew by 5% last year, disappointing policy-makers who want higher growth.
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(News report from Issue No. 130, published on April 5 2013)
MARCH 19 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – The governor of Kazakhstan’s Central Bank, Grigori Marchenko, called for the government to grant it full independence, media reported.
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(News report from Issue No. 128, published on March 22 2013)
MARCH 12 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – Although probably not wholly unexpected, the IMF’s assessment of Azerbaijan’s economy was still relatively blunt.
Instead of increasing public spending the Azeri authorities need to reduce government expenditure while improving its efficiency, as well as enhancing the business climate in general, media quoted Raja Almarzoqi, head of the IMF’s mission to Azerbaijan, as saying.
Like other energy-rich former Soviet states — Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan for example — Azerbaijan’s economy is heavily tilted towards cash earned from gas and oil.
Most of Azerbaijan’s energy-fuelled growth has occurred over the last decade. Now the government wants to boost other sectors of the economy and has promised various cash injections.
But the IMF said this strategy comes with risks.
According to Bloomberg news agency, Mr Almarzoqi cut straight to the point. “The 2013 budget is expansionary and creates overheating risks,” he said.
He backed up this statement with figures. Public spending and a significant increase in the non-energy economy will nearly double Azerbaijan’s GDP growth to 4.5% in 2013. Inflation, though, will also increase to 7% from 1.1% last year.
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(News report from Issue No. 127, published on March 15 2013)
MARCH 12 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – An increase in foreign direct investment will help Georgia’s economy maintain a 6% growth rate in 2013, media quoted finance minister Nodar Khaduri as saying. Mr Khaduri predicted that foreign investment in Georgia will double to $2b this year. Georgia’s economy officially grew by 6.1% in 2012.
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(News report from Issue No. 127, published on March 15 2013)
