MAY 28 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A senior Uzbek official hinted that Uzbekistan wanted to increase its export of refined cotton fabrics. Media quoted Dilbar Mukhamedova, a senior official in UzbekYengil- Sanoat, the state company which produces light industrial goods, as saying that Uzbekistan currently produces $1b of refined cotton products.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)
MAY 25 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a new report, the World Bank said remittances from Tajik migrant workers to their relatives might drop by 40% this year.
Remittances in 2014 from Tajiks working in Russia made up over 42% of Tajikistan’s GDP keeping the country at the top of the world’s most remittance- dependent ranking.
The World Bank’s forecast, therefore, makes for grim reading.
According to the World Bank the Tajik economy will experience a much slower growth than in the past few years. The country’s GDP in 2015 will grow at 3.2%, less than half its 2014 figure of 6.7%.
The World Bank forecasts the growth to return above 5% only in 2017. It also said that inflation would rise steadily over the next two years to around 10%.
The data presented by the World Bank paints a dark picture for Tajikistan’s short term future.
The World Bank has given similar pessimistic forecasts for Kyrgyzstan.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)
MAY 21 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Halyk Bank, Kazakhstan’s second largest bank majority owned by the daughter of Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev and her husband Timur Kulibayev, posted year-on-year profits down 29%. Costs had risen, in particular workers’ salaries. Kazakhstan devalued its currency in 2014, triggering wage inflation.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)
MAY 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s parliament will consider adopting a law that will shift supervisory powers over commercial banks away from the Central Bank to an independent supervisory body, media reported.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)
MAY 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan’s Central Bank denied it was restricting access to US dollars as a form of controlling its currency.
Two days earlier, the Tashkent-based Uzmetronom.com website quoted unnamed but, supposedly, reliable sources as saying that the Central Bank had halted the process for foreign and local companies to convert their local currency into US dollars for an unspecified period of time.
This is critical for companies which are keen to get their cash out of the country. Not being allowed to convert it severely undermines their operations.
Now, though media have quoted the Uzbek Central Bank as saying that this is not true.
Like the other countries in Central Asia, Uzbekistan trying to cope with a drop in oil prices and a fall Russia’s economy which has rippled across the region.
Last week, media reported that a senior official in the Uzbek Central Bank had written a letter to his superiors to warn that the country was running out of cash and that it could hardly afford to pay for vital services and salaries.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)
MAY 26 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Kyrgyz Central Bank cut its interest rate to 9.5% from 11%, the first cut since 2013, because of a slowdown in consumer price inflation.
It did warn, though, that despite a slight economic improvement, the country faced uncertain times.
“There has been economy a slowdown in inflation. At the same time, economic growth continues to be influenced by external factors,” it said in a statement on its website.
“The economic situation in the country’s main trading partners is uncertain and continues to impact the slowing economic growth of our own country through foreign trade and remittances.”
Kyrgyzstan, like the rest of the region, has been coping with a slowdown in Russia’s economy, triggered by a sharp fall in oil prices. Remittances from Kyrgyz working in Russia is a major part of Kyrgyzstan’s economy. This has dented the value of the Kyrgyz som and accelerated inflation.
Overall, the Central Bank said that inflation had slowed to 6.4% in April, down from 10.5% at the end of 2014.
The Central Bank also said that GDP growth for January to April had measured 7% because of an increase in production at Kumtor, a gold mine. Without Kumtor’s contribution, GDP growth would have measured 4.2%.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)
MAY 27 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia’s government said it would privatise the national post office group Haypost, potentially setting up one of the biggest sales of state assets this year.
One of the overriding reasons behind the sale is to modernise Haypost and its 900 branches around the country, Arman Sahakyan, head of the statement, said.
“With the help of investments we expect to modernize physical infrastructures, to restore around 250 post offices, to purchase mobile post vehicles, which will serve all Armenian communities including those 250 communities where there are no post offices at the moment. Transportation means will also be renovated, post-boxes will be placed at all 750,000 registered addresses of Armenia,” media quoted Mr Sahakyan as saying.
The Armenian government is under increased pressure to rebuff a worsening economic outlook.
Haypost, which is in desperate need of modernisation has been a prime candidate to attract an investor to buy it from the government and update the service.
The Armenian state wholly owns Haypost, although in 2006 it handed the management of the company over to a company registered in the Netherlands but owned by Argentinean-Armenian businessman Eduardo Eurnekian. It’s unclear from reports if Mr Eurnekian will be involved in the privatisation.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)
MAY 26 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan extended a ban on the import of higher grade oil- products from Russia until June 20, the ministry of energy said, potentially enflaming a growing trade row between the two neighbours.
This is the second extension to the ban on A92/93 diesel fuel, first imposed for 40 days on March 5 to protect domestic producers against cheap Russian imports.
The Russian rouble has roughly halved in value over the past year, mainly because of the slump in oil prices, while the Kazakh Central Bank has defended its currency vigorously.
This created a large imbal- ance in prices.
This year Moscow and Astana have banned various products under the guise of breaking health regulations. In reality, though, Commentators have said the various ban on foodstuffs has been a low-level trade war.
The irony is that Kazakhstan and Russia are supposed to have reduced trade barriers after the creation of the Eurasian Economic Union which also includes Belarus, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan.
Separately, the Kazakh energy ministry also announced it was increasing petrol prices slightly.
The government controls petrol prices. It has previously reduced them.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)
MAY 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev ordered the Central Bank to move from Almaty to Astana by 2017.
The Central Bank is the last major government institution to move to Astana,
marking the final act of the ascendency of Mr Nazarbayev’s purpose-built capital over the far more louche Almaty.
He built up Astana, after declaring it his new capital in 1997, to reflect his status as the creator of a modern Kazakhstan. New buildings and towers dot the city’s skyline every year.
Now, it appears, Mr Nazarbayev has decided that it’s time for the economic and financial power to be transferred north. Both the Central Bank and Kazakhstan Stock Exchange had remained stubbornly based in Almaty, anchoring other commercial banks to the city. By wrenching the Bank to Astana, Mr Nazarbayev will pull other companies with it.
In 2013, Mr Nazarbayev replaced the popular and independent-minded Grigory Marchenko as Central Bank chief with the more pliant Kariat Kelimbetov.
At the time, the financial community speculated that the change would precede a move north to Astana by the Central Bank. This was denied. Now, it seems, this speculation has been borne out.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 232, published on May 20 2015)
MAY 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s Central Bank said it will switch its monetary policy from targeting rigorous exchange rate stability to prioritising hitting inflation targets. Analysts have criticised the Central Bank for being too inflexible with its exchange rate controls.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 232, published on May 20 2015)
