MAY 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – With oil prices around $60-$65 per barrel, Kazakhstan’s economy will grow by 3% this year, Kairat Kelimbetov, the Kazakh Central Bank chief, told Reuters. His estimate was roughly double the estimate of the IMF.
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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)
MAY 27 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s Constitutional Court blocked a bill that would have banned so-called gay propaganda, only a few days after Olympic athletes said it contradicted the spirit of the Olympic Games.
In their letter to the International Olympic Committee, the athletes criticised he law, similar to one brought in by Russia in 2013, and asked the Games’ governing body to pressure Kazakhstan into reconsidering the law.
The strategy now appears to have worked.
As ever, timing is everything. Kazakhstan is competing with Beijing to host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. A decision is due in July and Kazakhstan would have been very keen to avoid any negative publicity surrounding its bid in the run-up to that announcement.
According to media reports, the Constitutional Council rejected the bill because if considered it vague and legally incorrect.
That, though, may not be the end of it. The promoter of the bill, MP Aldan Smayyl, said amendments to the current draft will be made and the bill will be submitted to the Parliament again soon.
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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)
MAY 26 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan’s parliament, the Majilis, approved a decree on the delimitation of the Caspian Sea bed with Kazakhstan an important step, to smoothing out the ongoing row between the countries which ring the Caspian Sea on how to divide up its potential hydrocarbon riches.
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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)
MAY 25 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The growth of the consumer loan market in Kazakhstan has stalled, media reported quoting a rankings website, another sign of the economic slowdown. Data from ranking.kz showed that year-on-year consumer credit grew by 7% to end-March, down from 45% the year before and 48% the year before that.
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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)
MAY 28 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Wearing a black scarf wrapped around his head and cradling a sniper rifle, Colonel Gulmurod Khalimov, Tajikistan’s paramilitary police chief, appeared in a video for IS to confirm that he had defected to the extremist group.
Colonel Khalimov’s defection is a major blow to Tajikistan and a major victory for IS. It has targeted Central Asia as a prime recruiting ground and has released videos showing Central Asian recruits training and also of a Kazakh boy shooting dead Russian captives.
In the slickly-made 12 minute video, 40-year-old Colonel Khalimov explained that he had defected from Tajikistan because of the authorities’ crackdown on Islamic dress and prayers.
He called on other Tajiks to join him in Syria and described Americans as pigs.
“Listen, you dogs, President and ministers, if only you knew how many of our boys, our brothers are here, waiting, eager to return to Tajikistan to establish sharia law,” he said.
At the end of the video, Colonel Khalimov shows off his skills as a trained sniper by shooting a ripe tomato.
Colonel Khalimov has been missing since late April and rumours had been flying around Dushanbe that he had headed to Syria to join IS.
And he is high-profile recruit for IS. As head of Tajikistan’s paramilitary police force, Colonel Khalimov wielded large powers and responsibilities.
His defection poses more problems for Central Asian states which say they are already struggling to fight against the IS recruitment drive.
The International Crisis Group has estimated that there are 4,000 men from Central Asia fighting for IS in Syria.
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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)
MAY 27 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Officials in Kazakhstan said 127,000 saiga antelopes out of a herd of 300,000 had now died from an outbreak of a respiratory disease. Kazakhstan has the largest herd of the endangered saiga antelopes.
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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)
MAY 21 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Halyk Bank, Kazakhstan’s second largest bank majority owned by the daughter of Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev and her husband Timur Kulibayev, posted year-on-year profits down 29%. Costs had risen, in particular workers’ salaries. Kazakhstan devalued its currency in 2014, triggering wage inflation.
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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)
MAY 26 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan extended a ban on the import of higher grade oil- products from Russia until June 20, the ministry of energy said, potentially enflaming a growing trade row between the two neighbours.
This is the second extension to the ban on A92/93 diesel fuel, first imposed for 40 days on March 5 to protect domestic producers against cheap Russian imports.
The Russian rouble has roughly halved in value over the past year, mainly because of the slump in oil prices, while the Kazakh Central Bank has defended its currency vigorously.
This created a large imbal- ance in prices.
This year Moscow and Astana have banned various products under the guise of breaking health regulations. In reality, though, Commentators have said the various ban on foodstuffs has been a low-level trade war.
The irony is that Kazakhstan and Russia are supposed to have reduced trade barriers after the creation of the Eurasian Economic Union which also includes Belarus, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan.
Separately, the Kazakh energy ministry also announced it was increasing petrol prices slightly.
The government controls petrol prices. It has previously reduced them.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)
MAY 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev ordered the Central Bank to move from Almaty to Astana by 2017.
The Central Bank is the last major government institution to move to Astana,
marking the final act of the ascendency of Mr Nazarbayev’s purpose-built capital over the far more louche Almaty.
He built up Astana, after declaring it his new capital in 1997, to reflect his status as the creator of a modern Kazakhstan. New buildings and towers dot the city’s skyline every year.
Now, it appears, Mr Nazarbayev has decided that it’s time for the economic and financial power to be transferred north. Both the Central Bank and Kazakhstan Stock Exchange had remained stubbornly based in Almaty, anchoring other commercial banks to the city. By wrenching the Bank to Astana, Mr Nazarbayev will pull other companies with it.
In 2013, Mr Nazarbayev replaced the popular and independent-minded Grigory Marchenko as Central Bank chief with the more pliant Kariat Kelimbetov.
At the time, the financial community speculated that the change would precede a move north to Astana by the Central Bank. This was denied. Now, it seems, this speculation has been borne out.
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(News report from Issue No. 232, published on May 20 2015)
MAY 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s Central Bank said it will switch its monetary policy from targeting rigorous exchange rate stability to prioritising hitting inflation targets. Analysts have criticised the Central Bank for being too inflexible with its exchange rate controls.
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(News report from Issue No. 232, published on May 20 2015)
