SEPT. 17 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – In an interview with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the US Ambassador to Armenia, Richard Mills, said that corruption was still a major problem in the country. Mr Mills said that some progress had been made but that it was holding back the Armenian economy.
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(News report from Issue No. 248, published on Sept. 18 2015)
SEPT. 16 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The IMF increased its GDP growth forecast for Uzbekistan to 6.8% from an earlier estimate of 6.2% although it also raised its inflation forecast to over 10%. The increase in inflation will all but cancel out any real GDP growth increase in Uzbekistan this year.
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(News report from Issue No. 248, published on Sept. 18 2015)
SEPT. 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Damu, a state-owned fund that helps SMEs in Kazakhstan, said it is negotiating on behalf of local businesses for a better interest rate on loans from the Asian Development Bank. The ADB has made $500m worth of loans available to SMEs in Kazakhstan since 2010. The Damu fund wants a $228m tranche made available to SMEs with an interest rate of 14% or below.
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(News report from Issue No. 248, published on Sept. 18 2015)
SEPT. 16 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Producer prices have risen by nearly 10% in the past year in Georgia, the country’s statistics office said. The main driver of the inflation was a sharp increase in prices of electricity, water and gas, rises all linked to the fall in the value of the Georgian lari.
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(News report from Issue No. 248, published on Sept. 18 2015)
SEPT. 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyz should diversify their assets, including cash, to protect themselves from the sharp swings in the value of currencies and commodities, Raushan Seitkazimova, head of the Central Bank’s monetary control unit, told media. The value of the Kyrgyz som has been fluctuating wildly, over the past few months.
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(News report from Issue No. 248, published on Sept. 18 2015)
SEPT. 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is considering a $65m loan to Astana LRT to buy 200 modern buses, media reported. Astana, the Kazakh capital, has been growing , putting major pressure on its public transport systems.
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(News report from Issue No. 248, published on Sept. 18 2015)
SEPT. 14 2015, ALMATY (The Conway Bulletin) — Coal production in Kazakhstan dropped by 6.7% in the first eight months of 2015 compared to the same period in 2014, data released by the Eurasian Economic Commission showed.
The Eurasian Economic Commission is the administrative arm of the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union. The Eurasian Economic Union is a trade bloc set up by the Kremlin that includes Kazakhstan, Armenia, Belarus and Kyrgyzstan.
The data showed a fairly pronounced slump in coal production in Kazakhstan, while the other countries maintained output.
The slump in Kazakhstan’s production may be yet another indicator of the impact of the economic recession. Kazakhstan relies heavily on coal to fire many of its larger industrial centres.
If order books are down, demand for coal and production would also slump.
SEPT. 11 2015, TBILISI (The Conway Bulletin) — Several hundred farmers protested in the ancient winemaking region of Kakheti in eastern Georgia, demanding that the government increase subsidies for harvested grapes.
Eyewitnesses said that the demonstrations were passionate and angry but peaceful, although some protesters brawled with police after tension boiled over. There were no reports of any injuries and only three people were detained but the unrest does show how the former Soviet Union’s economic malaise is deepening.
A grape farmer attending the protests told broadcaster Rustavi2 that they will not back down, but that people are afraid.
“I demand a rise of prices. People are afraid of this government, they do everything to keep us quiet. What should we do?” grape farmer Murtaz Gorkhelashvili said.
The price for a bunch of grapes has fallen by 40-55% this year because of a fall in wine export to Russia and Ukraine.
Western-imposed sanctions on Russia and a sharp fall in oil prices have tipped its economy into recession. A civil war has heavily dented Ukraine’s economy.
In 2014 wine production accounted for 2.5% of Georgia’s GDP, a higher proportion than France, even, where wine makes up around 0.9% of GDP.
Independent consultant and freelance wine writer Caroline Gilby described how important wine is to Georgia’s economy and also to its national identity.
“Wine is economically critical to this small country with its limited natural resources,” she said.
The government subsidy, an election promise by the Georgian Dream coalition in 2012, of an extra 0.35 lari per kilo of white grapes and 0.15 lari per red grapes for farmers is considered insufficient by the protestors.
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(News report from Issue No. 248, published on Sept. 18 2015)
SEPT. 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A group of parliamentarians from Brazil visited Azerbaijan, promising to boost ties. The meeting is important for Azerbaijan as it works to widen its diplomatic reach, especially in the so-called BRIC countries which economists have said will power global growth.
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(News report from Issue No. 248, published on Sept. 18 2015)
SEPT. 14 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Almaty and the oil-rich region of Mangistau in the west of the country are the only regions in Kazakhstan receiving a significant inflow of people looking for work, data published on the ranking.kz website reported. The data also showed that most of the people moving to these areas settled in villages rather than cities.
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(News report from Issue No. 248, published on Sept. 18 2015)
