Tag Archives: economy

Kazakh meat exports grow

MAY 29 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan wants to increase its meat and poultry exports to neighbouring countries over the next three years, media reported quoting agriculture minister Asylzhan Mamytbekov. Mr Mamytbekob said that meat exports increased by 300% in 2014.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 234, published on June 4 2015)

Armenia’s PM bullish on GDP growth

JUNE 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia’s economic picture this year is emerging. Its GDP increased by 2.2% in the first quarter of the year compared with 3.1% in January-March 2014. A slight drop, but not as bad as it could be.

On a trip to the city of Artashat, outside Yerevan, PM Hovik Abrahamyan said that he was pleased with the how the data was emerging.

“We have 2.3% (economic activity) growth for the first 4 months which is usually passive,” he said.

“The programs that we are implementing and the laws we are adopting can become the basis by which we will surely have more than 2.3% economic growth. We will do everything to reach 4.1% GD growth tar- get,” he said.

Like the rest of the region, the impact of falling oil prices on Russia’s economy twinned with sanctions have rippled wider and hit the South Caucasus and also Central Asia.

Mr Abrahamyan said Armenia may be able to reach GDP growth of 4.1% this year because of a number of projects in the pipeline. He highlighted increased agriculture activity of 6.6% in the first quarter of the year and a redress on the remittances’ reduction expected from Russia.

The IMF and the World Bank have said that remittances will drop by up to 40%. The Armenian Central Bank said that the figure is likely to be nearer 25% or 30%. And this is really the crux. If remittances fall sharply, GDP will too.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 234, published on June 4 2015)

Kyrgyz government cuts GDP growth rates

JUNE 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan’s government has slashed its economic growth forecast for 2015, Reuters reported.

It said that rather than the bullish prediction of growth at 6.2% in 2015, up from 3.6% in 2014 because of increased output at the Kumtor gold mine, growth would actually slow to 2%.

This reduced economic growth rate will also increase the size of its budget deficit, Reuters reported. This will rise to 5.7% of GDP from 3.3%.

Reuters said the new figures had been noted on Kyrgyz government documents.

Kyrgyzstan’s economic woes are shared by other countries across the region. It is strug- gling to deal with the fall-out from a downturn in Russia’s economy triggered by the doublehit of a sharp fall in oil prices around the world and also the impact of sanctions imposed by the West on Russia for its meddling in Ukraine.

Remittances from workers labouring in Russia are one of Kyrgyzstan’s main currency earners. The World Bank has said that this is likely to be down by 40% on 2014.

At a meeting with reporters in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan’s economy minister Oleg Pankratov explained the severity of the downturn.

“Our main partners are in deep crisis due to the rouble’s plunge … and economic sanc- tions,” she said, according to Reuters.

“Our migrants have started to transfer less cash.”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 234, published on June 4 2015)

Georgia’s GDP growth rate stumbles

MAY 29 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s economy by the end of April was just 0.9% larger than a year earlier, the Georgian national statistics agency said. Georgia and the rest of the region are coping with the twin impact of a drop in the value of the Russian rouble and a decline in oil prices.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 234, published on June 4 2015)

EBRD lowers Uzbekistan’s growth rate

JUNE 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) cut its growth rate estimate for GDP in 2015 in Uzbekistan to 7% from an earlier prediction of 7.8%. The falling value of the rouble and a drop in global oil prices have hit growth rates across the region.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 234, published on June 4 2015)

Armenian PM predicts economic growth

MAY 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenian PM Hovik Abrahamyan said the IMF and EBRD’s forecast of negative economic growth this year were wrong and that he still expected the economy to grow slightly.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)

Kazakh economy to grow at 3%

MAY 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – With oil prices around $60-$65 per barrel, Kazakhstan’s economy will grow by 3% this year, Kairat Kelimbetov, the Kazakh Central Bank chief, told Reuters. His estimate was roughly double the estimate of the IMF.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)

Kazakhstan’s consumer credit slows

MAY 25 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The growth of the consumer loan market in Kazakhstan has stalled, media reported quoting a rankings website, another sign of the economic slowdown. Data from ranking.kz showed that year-on-year consumer credit grew by 7% to end-March, down from 45% the year before and 48% the year before that.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)

Kyrgyzstan’s gold reserve falls

MAY 27 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan’s gold and currency reserves have dropped to $1.8b, down from 2.1b in March 2014, media reported quoting the Central Bank chief Tolkunbek Abdygulov. The drop is due to Kyrgyzstan selling gold and cash to prop up its currency. Like its neighbours, Kyrgyzstan has been struggling to deal with a steep decline in the Russian rouble and the Russian economy.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)

Apartment sales drop in Georgia

MAY 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Sales of new apartments in Georgia have slumped because of the worsening economic conditions, media reported quoting developers. Specifically, sales of luxury apartments are down 70% and sales of more basic apartments have dropped by 10%.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)