MARCH 31 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The World Bank has approved a $52m loan to upgrade Armenia’s power distribution network, media reported. The authorities in Armenia blame the aging power network partly for the patchy electricity supplies across the country.
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(News report from Issue No. 225, published on April 12015)
MARCH 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia will build a hydropower station with a $250m loan from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) which will boost electricity production in winter and allow it to export power to neighbouring Turkey. Demand for power in Georgia is increasing.
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(News report from Issue No. 224, published on March 25 2015)
MARCH 12 2015 (The Bulletin) – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has opened up an office in the town of Khujand in north Tajikistan to help support small business, media reported. The EBRD has been extending its Tajik projects.
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(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)
FEB. 25 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Two major inter-governmental financial organisations — the Asian Development Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) — have issued lari-denominated bonds for the first time.
The IFC, which is part of the World Bank, issued a 30m lari ($13.2m) bond with an initial yield of 6.924% and the Asian Development Bank issued a 100m lari ($44.2m) bond with a floating yield.
The idea behind the issues is to help boost the Georgian capital markets and to support small businesses.
In a statement, Pierre Van Peteghem, treasury of the Asian Development Bank said: “This bond — the largest by a foreign issuer — will provide a key market benchmark and could encourage more borrowers, both domestic and foreign, to tap the Georgian bond market.”
The ADB explained that profit from the bonds would be given to TBC Bank to lend out to small and medium sized enterprises.
And they need all the help they can get at the moment.
Like its neighbours in the South Caucasus, Georgia is struggling to deal with the fallout from the economic turbulence in Russia. Its lari currency is losing value, making lari-denominated bonds a risky investment.
Still, the drive by the IFC and the ADB to sell lari denominated bonds is a boost for the ailing currency. It also shows confidence in its future. It remains to be seen if the market also holds the same confidence in the lari currency.
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(News report from Issue No. 220, published on Feb. 25 2015)
FEB. 9 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — In a major boost for the retail market in Tajikistan, Auchan, the French supermarket brand, has agreed to open up its first franchise in Dushanbe later this year.
Media said that Auchan had signed a deal with French distributor Schiever to manage the stores.
It did not report where exactly the store would open but it did say that it would stock mainly Russian produce and open in 2015.
Schiever already runs Auchan’s stores in Poland.
The news is, obviously, good for Tajikistan which has been short on positive economic news lately. It’s also a departure from the norm.
Headlines from Tajikistan recently have focused on major Chinese expansion but little investment from European retailers.
It will also shake up the Tajik retail sector which has been dominated by small shops selling goods of variable quality. The Auchan store will, according to press reports, be roughly the size of a football pitch.
The Auchan store project is partly financed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) which has expanded its portfolio of projects across the region. In 2014, the EBRD said, it invested 100m euro into Tajikistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 219, published on Feb. 18 2015)
FEB. 17 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The World Bank agreed a $195m loan to Uzbekistan for a railway project that will speed up trade with China, media reported. The $1.6b project in the eastern Ferghana Valley will also bypass a Soviet-built section of railway that passes through Tajikistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 219, published on Feb. 18 2015)
FEB. 10 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has agreed to hold its AGM in Tbilisi in 2015. This will be the EBRD’s 24th AGM and the first to be held in the South Caucasus. For Georgia, the EBRD’s AGM gives it an opportunity to showcase Tbilisi.
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(News report from Issue No. 218, published on Feb. 11 2015)
FEB. 10 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — In a boost for business in Tajikistan, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has agreed a $5m loan to AccessBank which specialises in lending to smaller companies, media reported. AccessBank was set up in 2010 by international lenders.
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(News report from Issue No. 218, published on Feb. 11 2015)
DEC. 9 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan unveiled a project to build a six-lane 66km ring-road around Almaty which they hope will both ease congestion in the city and provide a new financing model for major infrastructure projects.
The FT reported that the number of cars in Almaty has exploded by 50% in the last five years. Anybody walking around its choked-up streets at rush hour will be able to taste the exhaust fumes in the air.
With support from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Kazakhstan has launched a plan to raise $680m in what has been dubbed its first internationally-tendered public-private partnership scheme.
Importantly, as the EBRD’s infrastructure chief, Thomas Meier, said the project is a test of Kazakhstan’s attractiveness and in particular law changes made this year. Most important of these was that any disputes concerning infrastructure developments would be settled by international arbitration.
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(News report from Issue No. 212, published on Dec. 10 2014)
NOV. 26 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan has invited companies to compete in a tender to build two hydropower stations, hydroworld.com, the industry new website, reported. The projects, supported by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), highlight how important hydropower is to Kyrgyzstan.
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(News report from Issue No. 211, published on Dec. 3 2014)
