APRIL 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Bidzina Ivanishvili, founder of the ruling Georgian Dream coalition, and a former Georgian PM, has once again criticised the Central Bank for failing to stop a depreciation of the lari currency, media reported. The previous government, loathed by Mr Ivanishvili, appointed the current Central Bank chief.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 230, published on May 6 2015)
MAY 6 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan has increased the price of electricity it charges its citizens by 7.4%, media reported, the second price rise in the last six months. Prices for basic utilities in Uzbekistan have been rising steadily.
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(News report from Issue No. 230, published on May 6 2015)
APRIL 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Revenue at Kazmunaigas EP, the London-listed unit of Kazakhstan’s state energy company, fell by 47% last year because of the collapse in oil prices, it said at its annual results. Importantly, too, salaries increased by 10% at Kazmunaigas after last year’s devaluation of the Kazakh tenge.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 230, published on May 6 2015)
MAY 5 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – On a trip to Washington next week, Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan will sign a trade deal with the US, media reported quoting US government sources. Although Armenia is an ally of Russia it is also improving ties with the West.
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(News report from Issue No. 230, published on May 6 2015)
MAY 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Initial data from the Georgian statistics office showed that economic growth in Georgia has picked up since the beginning of the year. Geostat said that overall year-on-year (y/y) growth in Q1 was 3.2%. In January y/y growth was 0.5%, in February it measured 4.9% and in March it measured 4.3%.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 230, published on May 6 2015)
APRIL 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia’s minister for diaspora, Hranush Hakobyan, called for Armenians based abroad to support the Armenian economy by opening up bank accounts. The Armenian diaspora acts as an important support for Armenia’s economy.
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(News report from Issue No. 230, published on May 6 2015)
APRIL 29 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh media reported a 19% drop in sales of US dollars, euros and roubles at foreign exchange points in March compared to February, suggesting a slowdown of the near panicked drive by ordinary Kazakhs to sell out of tenge when they thought a devaluation was imminent.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015
APRIL 29 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Azerbaijani state-owned International Bank of Azerbaijan raised a $200m loan from 18 financial institutions. This is important because it means Western banks are willing to lend to Azerbaijani state-owned institutions despite the economic downturn.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)
APRIL 28 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan is covertly cutting salaries for state employees to try and pay for the rising cost of the European Games which are scheduled to be held next month, the Eurasinet website reported.
It quoted unnamed employees of Azerbaijan’s State Customs Committee saying that they had had their bonuses scrapped because of the Games.
Eurasianet said the State Customs Committee declined to comment and that the ministry of taxes denied the allegations.
The 16-day European Games, which starts on June 12, is a major set-piece event for Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev. He wants to use sport to promote the country and to distract from criticism of his human rights record.
The problem is that, although Azerbaijan has enough oil- generated wealth to survive a regional downturn in economics, cash is getting tighter and paying for the multi-billion- dollar European Games is getting harder.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)
APRIL 28 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s lari currency dropped to a 16-year low against the US dollar despite efforts by the Central Bank to prevent the fall.
The Central Bank said it had sold off another $40m of its reserves to prop up the lari. This was the fifth intervention of $40m this year by the Central Bank despite an earlier pledge by its head, Georgy Kadagidze, not to sell its reserves to defend its value.
Even so, the lari fell to 2.3 against the US dollar its lowest level since 1999. Since November, the lari has lost around a third of its value.
A fall in the price of oil and a drop in the value of the Russian rouble have hit the economies of Central Asia and the South Caucasus hard.
Georgia has reported a 27% drop in exports in the first quarter of 2015 compared to a year earlier and has cut its projected GDP growth to 2% from an earlier estimate of 5%. Remittances from Russia have fallen by around 20%.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)
