APRIL 1 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – In March, consumer prices continued to increase in Kazakhstan, according to the National Statistics Committee. Inflation stood at 0.5% in March alone and the annualised level now stands at 15.7%, its highest since 2009. Analysts have said that inflation in Kazakhstan will continue to climb.
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(News report from Issue No. 275, published on April 8 2016)
APRIL 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Inflation in Georgia is slowing, figures from the Georgian Statistics Committee revealed. In March, prices grew by only 0.3%. Annualised inflation fell to 4.1% from 5.6% the previous month. An 18.7% year-on-year increase in medical products prices was the main component of inflation.
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(News report from Issue No. 275, published on April 8 2016)
APRIL 2 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The cost of public transport in Uzbekistan, which is run by the state, rose 20% on April 1, various opposition websites reported. The price increase is more evidence of inflationary pressure building in the Uzbek economy. Utility prices have also risen recently and information leaking out of Uzbekistan has suggested that the value of the Uzbek sum currency on the Black Market has fallen.
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(News report from Issue No. 275, published on April 8 2016)
MARCH 16 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s Central Bank picked Koba Gvenetadze, a former IMF banker, to be its chief, replacing Giorgi Kadagidze whose term finished in February. The following day, President Giorgi Margvelashvili approved Mr Gvenetadze’s 7-year term at the Bank. Georgia’s economy has been under increased pressure from the falling value of the lari and rising inflation linked to a fall in oil prices and recession in Russia.
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(News report from Issue No. 272, published on March 18 2016)
MARCH 17 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan has approved gas price increases of 8.2% for its population from April 1, the second price rise in six months.
Utility prices across the region have been increasing over the past couple of years as local currencies have devalued and overall inflation has accelerated.
But they are still sensitive, emotive issues.
Gas and electricity have always been subsidised in the former Soviet Union, so people generally resent increases.
In October, the authorities raised gas prices by 7.2%. This time, other utilities will also rise in Uzbekistan, the government said.
The price of cold water will rise by 5.7%, central heating and hot water by 9% and electricity by 8.9%. Last year in Armenia, proposed electricity price rises triggered street demonstrations that forced the government to back down from increasing prices.
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(News report from Issue No. 272, published on March 18 2016)
MARCH 9 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s Central Bank kept interest rates steady at 8%, saying that inflation was due to slow and dip into its target zone. Like the rest of the region, Georgia has been increasingly worried about inflation pressure building up in its economy. Prices and salaries have been rising as the value of the lari has fallen. Overall inflation in February was 5.6%.
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(News report from Issue No. 271, published on March 11 2016)
MARCH 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s Central Bank raised its key interest rate to 7% from 5% to support its manat currency, the second interest rate increase in less than a month. It increased rates on Feb. 15 to 5% from 3%. The manat currency has lost 50% of its value in the past year. This is the highest rate since 2009.
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(News report from Issue No. 271, published on March 11 2016)
MARCH 9 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Utility tariffs in Kazakhstan were 11.2% higher in February this year compared to February 2015, the state statistics agency said. The biggest cost rise was a near 20% increase in sewage charges imposed on households. Heating and hot water prices have risen by nearly 6% and rubbish collection by around 5%. The data is more evidence of a rise in the cost of living in Kazakhstan after the currency lost around 50% of its value last year.
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(News report from Issue No. 271, published on March 11 2016)
MARCH 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The economic downturn that has hit Central Asia and the South Caucasus in the past two years has dented people’s purchasing power.
Most people earn salaries in their local currency but these have lost between 50% and 25% of their value in the past months.
This has triggered some social unrest, especially in the South Caucasus. In January, people in Azerbaijan took to the streets to protest against rising food prices and stagnating wages.
The same reasons were voiced by miners in Tkibuli, Georgia, who went on strike for two weeks asking for a 40% increase in salaries. Now reports have emerged from Yerevan where market stall owners briefly scuffled with police over rental prices.
In Central Asia, protests are less frequent and, generally, silenced quickly by the authorities. Last month, however, dozens of Kazakh women banging pots and blowing whistles protested in Almaty about mortgage repayments.
The crisis is starting to bite hard and the people are growing increasingly restless.
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(Editorial from Issue No. 270, published on March 4 2016)
MARCH 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Inflation is the next enemy for South Caucasus and Central Asian countries hit by the regional economic downturn.
A fall in commodity prices at the end of 2014 pushed down revenues in the extractive sectors and sent the Russian rouble into a downward spiral. This then hit the value of local currencies, hurting people’s confidence in their Central Banks and their pockets.
Then came a fall in vital workers’ remittances from Russia, down by up to 45%.
Now, inflation appears to be on the rise, as Kyrgyzstan’s Central Bank chief Tolkunbek Abdygulov has warned.
In Kazakhstan, inflation is already at 15.1% year-on-year to the end of February 2016. It has been warning about a surge in prices and salaries since it effectively devalued its currency in Aug. 2015.
A couple of days after the devaluation, the Kazakh Central Bank said it was now making inflation-busting its top target. There is a lot of work to do.
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(Editorial from Issue No. 270, published on March 4 2016)
