Tag Archives: economy

Georgian president signs banking law

SEPT. 10 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgian president Giorgi Margvelashvili signed into law a bill that switches supervision of commercial banks from the Central Bank to a state-linked body called the Financial Supervisory Body. Mr Margvelashvili tried to veto the switch but was blocked by parliament. Inter- governmental banks have criticised the switch and called it political.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 247, published on Sept. 11 2015)

FDI jumps in Georgia by 82% in Q2 2015

SEPT. 9 2015, TBILISI (The Conway Bulletin) — Foreign direct investments, so vital for Georgia’s economy, jumped by 81% in the second quarter of this year compared to the same period in 2014, the statistics agency said.

The data showed that Georgia attracted investments worth $355m between April and June 2015, up from 196m in 2014 and also up from the 175m in the first quarter of this year.

But foreign investment inflows to Georgia have been volatile over the past few years. In the second half of last year, for example, Georgia attracted investment of over $1.2b although it has damped this year.

Geostat didn’t give a reason for the increase in foreign investment although it said that the single largest investor in the second quarter of the year was Azerbaijan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 247, published on Sept. 11 2015)

Food prices rise in Armenia

AUG. 31 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A significant increase in the cost of potatoes is upsetting locals in Yerevan, the Armenianow website reported. It said the price of potatoes had doubled over the past month. The government, though, has said the increase in prices is purely seasonal and will drop back down.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 246, published on Sept. 4 2015)

Farm products boost Armenian GDP

AUG. 31 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia’s GDP grew by 4.4% in H1 2015, media quoted PM Hovik Abrahamyan as saying. This is better than analysts had predicted. Mr Abrahamyan said an increase in agriculture exports had helped offset a drop in economic conditions triggered by the fall in the dram currency.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 246, published on Sept. 4 2015)

Food prices fall in Azerbaijan

SEPT. 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The price of food in Azerbaijan fell by 0.3% in August compared to July, the state’s statistical service told media. The fall in prices highlights the turmoil that the drop in the value of the manat and the collapse in oil prices has created.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 246, published on Sept. 4 2015)

AvtoVAZ to increase prices in Kazakhstan

SEPT. 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russian car manufacturer AvtoVAZ said it would increase prices in the Kazakh market by 3%. “The new pricing policy is due to changing macroeconomic factors and increased competition,” a company official told kapital.kz. Kazakhstan has devalued its currency and inflation is rising. This is the fourth price rise in 2015.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 246, published on Sept. 4 2015)

Devaluation worries in Kazakh economy

SEPT. 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Umut Shayakhmetova, chairman of Halyk Bank, said the devaluation of the tenge last month would hit businesses hard and that the impact would be heavier than a devaluation in 2014. “It will affect the economy. Our clients will experience a drop in sales,” media quoted her as saying at a press conference.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 246, published on Sept. 4 2015)

Uzbekistan increases state salaries

SEPT. 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – From Sept.1 government salaries and pensions in Uzbekistan increased by 10%, media reported, another indication that inflation is accelerating across the region.

Uzbek president Islam Karimov ordered 26, ostentatiously to improve the quality of life for ordinary people but in reality to keep up with price inflation in basic foodstuffs, utilities and petrol.

Like the rest of the region, Uzbekistan’s currency has fallen sharply in value and remittance from Russia have roughly halved.

The Uzbek government usually increases salaries and pensions once or twice a year. The previous salary increase of 12% came in December 2014.

As well as boosting salaries, the government is also increasing import duties on major staples ranging from meat and poultry, to dairy and fruits by around 30%. University tuition fees have risen by 15%. Part of the thinking behind the increase in duties is to ring-fence agricultural production in Uzbekistan during the economic downturn.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 246, published on Sept. 4 2015)

Petrol prices to rise in Turkmenistan

SEPT. 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Media in Kyrgyzstan quoted reports from north Turkmenistan which said long queues were forming at petrol stations after rumours emerged that prices were going to rise. Petrol prices have risen across Central Asia because of a sharp fall in the value of local currencies.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 246, published on Sept. 4 2015)

Inflation in Georgia climbs to 4-year high

SEPT. 3 2015, TBILISI (The Conway Bulletin) — Rising food and utilities prices pushed up inflation in August to a year-on-year level of 5.4%, its highest level for four years Geostat, the Georgian statistics agency, said.

Analysts have been warning that the drop in the value of the Georgian lari over the past year would pressure inflation. These concerns appear to have been borne out by the data which has showed a steady increase in prices in Georgia since March.

Geostat said that food prices in Georgia rose by an average of 2% in August and utilities by 4.4%. Importantly dairy products, a staple of the Georgian diet, rose by nearly 10%.

Also, electricity prices rose by 11.4% in August, mainly due to the fall in the value of the lari. Rising electricity prices across the region have triggered discontent, especially in neighbouring Armenia where wide- spread street protests forced the government to ditch most price increases.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 246, published on Sept. 4 2015)