DEC. 5 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a reminder of the Kazakh car-making boom over the past few years, French manufacturer Citroen- Peugeot said it had entered into a joint-venture to produce its models at the SaryarkaAvtoProm plant in Kostanay in north Kazakhstan. Many Western car-makers are already producing cars in Kostanay.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 212, published on Dec. 10 2014)
DEC. 4 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhs are becoming more comfortable paying for products on their credit and debit cards, the research website ranking.kz said. It said that for the year to the end of October transactions using either credit or debit cards had risen by 22%. This increase should aid consumer spending.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 212, published on Dec. 10 2014)
DEC. 9 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Kazakh government plans to start regulating fuel against prices in neighbouring Russia, media reported. Kazakhstan imports a third of its fuel from Russia and has blamed price disparities and the downturn in the Russian economy for shortages.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 212, published on Dec. 10 2014)
DEC. 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The presidents of Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Iran formally opened a railway line that will connect the three countries. At the event in Ashgabat, the leaders said that the railway line would increase trade between Central Asia and Iran and help ignite a new north-south Silk Road.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 212, published on Dec. 10 2014)
DEC. 5 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – At a press conference in Astana with visiting French president Francois Hollande, Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev called on the West to relax sanctions against Russia imposed for its alleged support of rebel forces in the east of the country. The sanctions on Russia have had a knock-on effect on Central Asia.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 212, published on Dec. 10 2014)
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.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 212, published on Dec. 10 2014)
DEC. 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – In talks ahead of a ceremony to mark the inauguration of a train line running from Kazakhstan to Iran via Turkmenistan, Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev urged his Turkmen counterpart, Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, to join the CIS Free Trade zone. Mr Berdymuakhamedov has been opening Turkmenistan to global trade.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 211, published on Dec. 3 2014)
DEC. 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Inflation in Kazakhstan is beginning to edge up to the psychologically important double digit zone. The Kazakh statistics committee said prices rose by 0.7% in November after a 0.5% increase in October.
This is a precarious position for the Kazakh Central Bank. Annualised inflation already measures 7.6%. It won’t be long, if the current trend continues, until it hits 10%.
The problems are two two-fold and well-known — Russia and the drop in the price of oil.
These two issues have combined to produce something of an economic storm for Kazakhstan. And its options are limited. The Central Bank devalued — without warning — its tenge currency by 20% in February. For its currency to retain any credibility, it has had to pledge to protect it from further devaluation.
There is already a lot of economic uncertainty in Kazakhstan. Rising inflation is adding to that.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 211, published on Dec. 3 2014)
NOV. 28 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The depreciation of the Russian rouble has hit Kazakhstan’s energy sector, media reported.
Kazakh media said Samruk-Energo, the state-owned energy company, had cancelled rouble-denominated contracts with Russian clients.
“We have suspended power supplies over the lingering Russia’s currency devaluation. Supplies are no longer economically viable for Kazakhstan-based power plants. Loss of the markets is an important issue,” media quoted Almasadam Satkaliyev, head of Samruk-Energo, as saying.
This is important as it shows how Kazakh industry is beginning to lose out from a depreciating rouble. It’s an issue that could threaten to upset otherwise close relations between the two neighbours.
Kazakhstan has signed up to the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union and has a host of other friendly treaties in place.
The problem is that the Kazakh Central Bank has pledged not to devalue its currency after knocking 20% off its value earlier this year. This means that Kazakhstan will have to look elsewhere to sell its power or accept a vastly reduced price.
Mr Satkaliyev also said that Kazakhstan was looking to replace coal supply contracts with Russian clients.
“Russia’s economy is not ready to import Kazakhstan’s coals at higher prices. Russia has adopted a program to replace Kazakhstan’s coal,” he said.
“A second factor is the continuing devaluation of the Russian rouble. All the contracts rely on the Russian rouble; therefore for the Kazakh side it is of great importance to ensure economic viability of supplies.”
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 211, published on Dec. 3 2014)
DEC. 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev and Iranian president Hassan Rouhani flew to Ashgabat for separate bilateral talks with Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov as well as for the long-awaited inauguration of a new railway that will connect the three countries.
The inauguration ceremony for the 935km Ozen-Bereket- Gorgan line is due on Dec. 3. It will vastly reduce travel time and, it is hoped, boost north-south trade.
“This route will permit the region’s development and prosperity,” Turkmen leader Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov was quoted by media as saying. “This event will go down in the history of our countries.”
A statement from Mr Nazarbayev’s office said they thought the railway route would increase trade by three- fold.
Predictions of trade increases generated by the new railway are, by their very nature during this period of economic uncertainty, difficult to gauge. What is more certain, though, is that Central Asia’s links with Iran will improve further.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 211, published on Dec. 3 2014)
