JAN. 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Ratings agency Fitch downgraded Kazkommertsbank’s long-term credit to CCC from B- because of a fall in the value of the tenge. Fitch said: “The downgrade reflects a significant increase in the volume of problem (mostly foreign currency-denominated) exposures, primarily as a result of the tenge’s devaluation.”
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)
JAN. 22 2016, ALMATY/Kazakhstan (The Conway Bulletin) — Bus drivers in Kazakhstan’s financial capital have been striking because of the introduction of an electronic ticketing system which they say makes their job harder, one side of a row that highlights the problems introducing modern ticketing systems into Soviet-era systems brings.
Under the new system, passengers buy a day pass for the bus system for 400 tenge and tap in and out on a monitor in the body of the bus. Under the old system, passengers bought separate tickets for each journey.
From Oct. 1, Almaty was the first city in Kazakhstan to operate an electronic ticket system. Until Jan. 11 it ran alongside the previous token system. Since then, though, it has become the only way for passengers to pay their travel fares. And many don’t like it.
Kuralai Abenova, a frequent user of public transport said: “I like this cashless system but I am afraid I’d forget this card at home. If I ride without this card, I will be fined.”
According to the head of Almaty’s public transport network, Dauren Alimbekov, the new ticketing system cost $12m to introduce.
His staff also said that the bus drivers who went on strike and were deemed to be in breach of their contract would be sacked.
As for the bus drivers they have said that up to 40% of the passengers now ride the bus for free.
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(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)
JAN. 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Around 100 women covered in grey sheets marched in protest to Kazkommertsbank and Bank Center Credit to complain about how they treat mortgage holders, their second protest this month. The protesters said that they have struggled to pay their debts since the the tenge lost 50% of its value during a devaluation in August. The authorities in Kazakhstan fear economic problems will trigger social discontent.
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(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)
JAN. 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Ozenmunaigas, a subsidiary of Kazakhstan’s state-owned energy company Kazmunaigas, denied reports in the media that it has received preferential treatment over taxes owed to the government. In a separate statement, Kazmunaigas said that Ozenmunaigas’s break-even oil price for the first three quarters of 2015 was $65/barrel, above the average global price of $55/barrel.
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(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)
JAN. 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — French DIY retailer Leroy Merlin will open its first shop in Kazakhstan in 2018. Construction work will start in Q4 2016. The new store will be located in the Aport Mall, Kazakhstan’s largest mall, on the outskirts of Almaty. The company said it will invest 10b tenge ($27m) in the shop.
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(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)
JAN. 13 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tsesnabank, one of the largest banks in Kazakhstan, bought an 83% stake in Russian Plus Bank, after both countries’ Central Banks gave the green light for the deal. According to Russian law, Tsesnabank will have to submit another offer for the remaining 16.7% of Plus Bank over the next days. UAE-based Linex Global owns 14.7% of Plus Bank. Tsesnabank has increased its stake over the past six months. In June 2015, it owned 20% of Plus Bank. It has since bought out several other minority shareholders. Adilbek Dzhaksybekov, mayor of Astana, owns Tsesnabank.
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(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)
JAN. 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – An online poll by Kazakhstan’s football federation asking fans if they wanted a foreign or Kazakh manager for their national team flopped after it fell far short of the 50,000 votes it needed for the result to be acted upon. By midnight on Jan. 14, the poll had attracted just over 2,500 votes, 5% of total needed.
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(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)
JAN. 12 2016, ALMATY (The Conway Bulletin) — Data from the Kazakh Central Bank showed that Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into the country has collapsed to its lowest level for a decade.
In the first nine months of 2015, FDI into Kazakhstan measured $2.1b. Total FDI in 2014 was $8.3 and in 2010 was 10.4b.
The new data is yet more evidence of the sharp slowdown in the Kazakh economy, as well as the impact of the 50% fall in the value of the tenge.
Economists have forecast a slowdown in economic growth in Kazakhstan, expected to last into 2017 and 2018, linked to low oil prices and a recession in Russia.
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(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)
JAN. 13 2016, ALMATY (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan will likely hold a parliamentary election this year after MPs officially asked President Nursultan Nazarbayev to dissolve the current parliament.
They said that parliament had achieved the mandate it was given at the start of the current parliamentary cycle, although with the Kazakh economy in a perilous state, they may also have decided that it would be far better to deal with an election now rather than wait until 2017.
Kazakhstan’s 107-seat Lower Chamber voted unanimously to approve the dissolution of parliament in what was likely a choreographed decision. All 107 seats are held by pro-Nazarbayev MPs with his Nur Otan party dominating the chamber.
Last year, Kazakhstan also brought forward its presidential election by two years, officially to avoid a clash with the parliamentary election set for 2017.
Election monitors said that by bringing forward the presidential election, Mr Nazarbyaev was able to wrong foot opponents and secure an easy re-election.
Since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Kazakhstan has never held an election judged free and fair by Western election monitors.
Under Kazakh law, after officially consulting with the Speakers of the Lower and Upper Chambers of Parliament as well as with Prime Minister, President Nazarbayev can call an early parliamentary election.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)
JAN. 11 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Association the Kazakh Auto- mobile Business said authorised dealers in the country sold cars worth $1.9b in Jan.-Nov. 2015, about 43% less than than the same period last year. The Association also said that sales of cars produced in Kazakhstan fell by 50% to around $355m.
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(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)
