DEC. 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kenes Rakishev, a well-connected businessman in Kazakhstan, said he is in talks to buy Sedmoi Kanal (Channel 7), a popular television channel focusing on education and entertainment. In July 2015, Channel 7 stopped broadcasting information and analytical programmes due to low market demand.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 260, published on Dec. 11 2015)
DEC. 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Iran could send most of its enriched uranium supply to Kazakhstan under a US-negotiated deal that would allow sanctions to be lifted, the Wall Street Journal reported quoting sources. Iran has to transfer its enriched uranium to a third country to comply with conditions to remove sanctions.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 260, published on Dec. 11 2015)
DEC. 11 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Oil prices fell by almost 10% to under $40/barrel this week — its lowest price since 2009. This hit several of the region’s energy companies who were already dealing with a sharp slump in their share prices.
Tethys Petroleum closed at 4.38p on Thursday, down 2.7% in one week. Roxi Petroleum continued to decline, closing at 6.38p on Thursday, down 8.9% on the week. Nostrum Oil & Gas shares lost 3% to close at 369.5p.
Commodity companies were hit by the general downturn in the market and the news of giant miner Anglo American scaling down operations dramatically. Gold prices fell again by 2% this week, hitting $1,067/ounce.
This affected Kazakhstan-focused mining companies such as Central Asia Metals and KAZ Minerals, which lost 8.9% and 3.8% respectively this week. Kyrgyzstan-focused miner Centerra Gold surged 4%in the Toronto Stock Exchange to 7.94 Canadian dollars, against the trend of other companies, perhaps rallying on its positive results in the first three-quarters of the year.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 260, published on Dec. 11 2015)
DEC. 7 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – In tenge terms, prices for new housing in Kazakhstan have risen on average by 12% in the year to the end of November, media reported quoting the national statistics agency. The rise is a reflection of the devaluation of the tenge and also of rising inflation. The tenge has lost around 40% in value this year.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 260, published on Dec. 11 2015)
DEC. 7/10 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Ratings agencies Standard & Poor’s and Fitch said that worsening economic conditions in Kazakhstan threaten to generate bad debt that could drag down the banking sector.
The warnings add to the mounting analysis which suggest that the initial impact of low oil prices and a recession in Russia were underestimated. Last week the World Bank said that the Kazakh economy would grow by its lowest rate since the 1990s.
Specifically Standard & Poor’s downgraded the rating of Almaty-based Eurasian Bank to B from B+ because of an increase in its non- performing loan portfolio.
“The level of non-performing loans increased to 11.1% of total loans on Nov. 1, 2015 from 7.5% on Jan. 1, 2015,” it said in a statement.
Non-performing loans are those which are more than 90 days overdue.
After the Global Financial Crisis of 2008/9, Kazakhstan’s banks held portfolios with the largest proportion of non-performing loans in the world. It had managed to reduce this before the onset of the current economic malaise.
But the current economic problems have slowed this recovery.
Similarly to the World Bank last week, Fitch said the Kazakh economy would grow by just 1% this year.
“Medium-term prospects for Kazakhstan’s banking system have deteriorated in 2015 due to lower oil prices, the economic slowdown (especially in non-extractive sectors) and the weaker tenge,” it said in a statement.
Unlike the World Bank, though, it did say the recovery would be quicker and that the Kazakh economy would grow by 2.3% in 2015, compared to a World Bank estimate of 1.1%.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 260, published on Dec. 11 2015)
DEC. 9 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The tenge/$ rate has reached a balanced position, Kazakh PM Karim Massimov said, suggesting that the national currency will not lose much more value against the US dollar. By Dec. 9, the tenge traded at around 309/$1. It has lost around 40% of its value this year.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 260, published on Dec. 11 2015)
DEC. 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The London correspondent of Kazakhstan’s state-owned Khabar TV station and its 24.kz website, Bela Kudaibergenova, resigned saying: “I just can’t lie any more”.
On a Facebook post, Ms Kudaibergenova, who has been in London for six years, said that she decided to quit when she was ordered to spin a dowdy event organised by the Kazakh embassy as a great success which showed the love that the British people have for Kazakhstan.
“That was it. I felt that enough was enough, and I could not do it anymore,” Ms Kudaibergenova told RFE/RL in an interview.
Free speech activists have previously criticised Kazakhstan for crack- downs and for using state-run media to sugar coat reality.
After Ms Kudaibergenova’s resignation, twitter and social media lit up with messages of support.
The reaction of the official media in Kazakhstan, though, was less ecstatic. The Khabar news channel said that a planned move from London had triggered her resignation.
“We never lie,” said Arman Seitmamyut, head of of Khabar TV.
“I personally demand that all our journalists double check all their work and the accuracy of everything.”
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 260, published on Dec. 11 2015)
DEC. 9 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkish producerCoca Cola Icecek will open its second plant in Kazakhstan in the first half of 2016, the chairman of the government agency KAZNEX INVESTBorisbi Zhangurazov told media.Coca Cola Icecek will operate the plant, located in Astana, which cost around $70m to build. Kazakhstan is the largest market in Central Asia for Coca Cola Icecek.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 260, published on Dec. 11 2015)
DEC. 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Seemingly determined to be the bearer of positive news, Kazakh minister of economy Yerbolat Dossayev said construction on expanding the Tengiz oil project would start next April and that the Kashagan oil field would finally begin production in December 2016.
These dates confirm earlier plans to speed up the much-delayed Kashagan oil field in the Caspian Sea and expand the Chevron-led Tengiz oil- field sooner rather than later.
But some of the numbers are lower than the government had hoped for.
Deputy energy minister Magzum Mirzagaliyev said the Kashagan oil- field will reach an output of 13m tonnes/year by 2020, the equivalent of 250,000 barrels of oil/day. In June, NCOC ex-director Stephane de Mahieu said Kashagan would reach 370,000 barrels/day by the end of 2017. The NCOC consortium includes Eni, Kazmunaigas, Shell, ExxonMobil, Total, CNPC and Inpex.
Tengizchevroil – which includes Chevron, ExxonMobil, Kazmunaigas and LukArco – delayed their expansion plan to Tengiz this year because of a drop in oil prices. It has not commented on an April expansion date.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 260, published on Dec. 11 2015)
DEC. 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — South Africa’s Paramount, a private company that manufactures equipment for the police and military, opened a new plant in Astana to produce a version of their Marauder armoured personnel carrier. Kazakhstan Paramount Engineering is a joint venture with state-owned Kazakhstan Engineering Distribution. Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev attended the opening.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 259, published on Dec. 4 2015)
