Tag Archives: Kazakhstan

Former Kazakh PM arrested

NOV. 19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Serik Akhmetov, a former Kazakh prime minister and defence minister, was arrested and placed under house arrest for alleged corruption.

It’s been a spectacular fall from grace for the man who was prime minister in April before being moved to the head the defence ministry. He was sacked as defence minister in October.

Powerbases in Kazakhstan are still formed at a local level and it was clear that Mr Akhmetov was going to find himself under increased pressure when senior officials from his home region of Karaganda started to be arrested.

A local court has imprisoned former governor of the region, Baurzhan Abdishev and the former mayor of the city of Karaganda, Meyram Smagulov as well as other officials.

A loyal figure ready to accept any inconvenient position under the instruction of President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Mr Akhmetov was one of two powerful men from the Karaganda region. The other one, Nurlan Nigmatullin, is now head of the presidential administration. Businessmen used to say that without Mr Akhmetov’s approval, no deals could be reached in Kazakhstan.

“It would appear [that] the arrest of the former PM of Kazakhstan is about graft, but it could also be an attempt to rid the field of competitive presidential successors,” said Stacy Closson, professor at the University of Kentucky and expert on Central Asian elites.

Possibly.

Mr Akhmetov’s arrest certainly changes the relationship between corruption and politics in Kazakhstan. Previously, only political opponents used to be the target of corruption charges. Now loyalists seem vulnerable too.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 210, published on Nov. 26 2014)

Kazakh Capital Bank signs Arsenal

NOV. 21 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh bank Capital Bank signed a deal with top-tier London-based football club Arsenal to use its branding on a new debit card.The deal underlines the confidence and ambition of Kazakh companies. This is the first deal between a Premier League team and a Kazakh company.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 210, published on Nov. 26 2014)

IS video features Kazakh child

NOV. 24 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The extremist Islamic State (IS) released a propaganda video featuring a Kazakh child going through weapons training and proclaiming he wants to become a jihadist fighter. Kazakh policymakers have been warning about an exodus of recruits from Kazakhstan to IS.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 210, published on Nov. 26 2014)

Kazakhstan’s Alliance Bank completed debt deal

NOV. 19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s Alliance Bank has completed a $1.2b debt restructuring deal and will now merge with Temirbank and ForteBank to become one of the biggest lenders in the country, Reuters reported. The government bought a stake in Alliance Bank in 2009. Temirbank and ForteBank are owned by billionaire Bulat Utemuratov.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 210, published on Nov. 26 2014)

Kazakhstan regains control of subsidiary

NOV. 14 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s energy transport monopoly KazTransGas regained control of its Georgian subsidiary, KazTransGas-Tbilisi. Georgia had effectively expropriated the company in 2009 over unpaid debt. KazTransGas- Tbilisi owns a 2,400km gas distribution system in Georgia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 209, published on Nov.19 2014)

McDonalds to open in Kazakhstan

NOV. 12 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – US burger chain McDonalds will open its first restaurant in Kazakhstan next year, the company announced. The question of if and when McDonalds would finally open a restaurant in Kazakhstan — also its first in Central Asia — has been pondered for years.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 209, published on Nov.19 2014)

300 Kazakhs fighting for IS

NOV. 18 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The head of Kazakhstan’s National Security Council, Nurtai Abyakyev, said there were over 300 Kazakhs, half of them women, fighting in Syria and Iraq for the extremist group Islamic State. Policy makers in Central Asia are increasingly worried about how easily Islamic State has recruited people from the region.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 209, published on Nov.19 2014)

Kazakhstan to sponsor Turkish football team shirts

NOV. 15 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Samruk-Kazyna, Kazakhstan’s national investment fund, has signed a $40m deal to sponsor the shirts of the top Istanbul football club Galatasaray, Turkish media reported. With the Kazakh economy under increased pressure, economists and ordinary Kazakhs may question the worth of the deal.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 209, published on Nov.19 2014)

Russia wants Kazakhstan’s pipeline oil

NOV. 12 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Looking to reduce the threat of sabotage, Russia’s energy ministry asked Kazakhstan to use a pipeline through Ukraine to export its crude oil.

The offer was first made in September, but was only reported by Reuters this month when the state-owned energy transport company, KazTransOil, called for local companies to participate in the bid. Although volumes have not yet been agreed, the agreement should allow Kazakh oil to run through the Druzhba (friendship) pipeline, built in 1964, whose Southern branch terminates in Hungary and the Czech Republic.

By agreeing to help fill the Druzhba pipeline, Kazakhstan is stepping directly into the ongoing civil war in Ukraine and the surrounding proxy conflict between the West and Russia.

For Russia, the benefits are fairly obvious. It wants to retain some use for the major Druzhba pipeline and would be able to charge Kazakhstan rent for using it. Russia would also reduce its risk exposure to the pipeline.

For Kazakhstan, the benefits are less obvious. Taking on the route is a major geopolitical headache.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 209, published on Nov.19 2014)

Kazakh tenge celebrated a not-so-happy birthday

NOV. 19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – In Kazakhstan, November 15 is the Day of the National Currency, a little-known holiday for workers in the financial sector.

With the Kazakh tenge under pressure again despite a 20% devaluation earlier this year, they and the national currency will be grateful for the rest.

The tenge was born in 1993, after Kazakhstan’s independence from the Soviet Union.

It had a bumpy ride with initial inflation, matching concerns about the viability of an independent Kazakhstan. The exchange rate against the dollar jumped from an initial 4.75 to 35 within two months.

A dollar peg provided some stability — even if it was shaky — for the tenge during the second half of the 1990s but the Russian and Asian crises forced a new market- driven devaluation. Between April and September 1999, the tenge lost one third of its value against the greenback.

A corner, though, was turned at the start of the 21st century and with Kazakhstan maturing as a country so did its currency. Fiscal responsibility helped keep down inflation in the early 2000s, oil prices slowly rose, giving Kazakhstan’s fledging energy sector a boost.

Then came two devaluations of 20%. The first in Feb. 2009 and the second five years later.

With the US Federal Reserve easing its policy of cheap money and preparing to raise interest rates, pressure on emerging currencies, including the tenge, is likely to increase.

Aged 21, the tenge has already had an eventful existence.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 209, published on Nov.19 2014)