SEPT. 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Inflation in Kazakhstan edged up to 7.1% for the year to end-August, the top of the Central Bank’s bandwidth. The Central Bank aims to keep inflation between 6% and 8%. Central Asia’s economies have been under pressure from the sanctions on Russia. Inflation increased by 0.4% in August.
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(News report from Issue No. 198, published on Sept. 3 2014)
AUG. 22 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Halyk Bank, Kazakhstan’s second largest lender, increased its full year profit estimate by 10% to 100m tenge ($550m) after a strong first half of the year. The data is positive for Kazakhstan’s banking sector which is looking to rebound from the Global Financial Crisis.
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(News report from Issue No. 197, published on Aug. 27 2014)
AUG. 24 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Human rights groups have criticised former British PM Tony Blair for penning a letter in 2012 to Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev giving him advice on how to refer in a speech to deadly clashes between police and anti- government demonstrators. Mr Blair has been an adviser to Mr Nazarbayev since 2011.
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(News report from Issue No. 197, published on Aug. 27 2014)
AUG. 17 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Cherie Blair, wife of ex-British PM Tony Blair, has negotiated a contract to advise Kazakhstan’s ministry of justice for three months for $200,000, the Daily Telegraph reported. Mr Blair has been an adviser to Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev since 2011.
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(News report from Issue No. 196, published on Aug. 20 2014)
AUG. 18 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s economy grew by 4% between January and July, Alikhan Smailov, head of the Kazakh statistics committee, said. This is lower than predicted at the start of the year because of the impact of sanctions on Russia over its alleged arming of rebels in Ukraine.
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(News report from Issue No. 196, published on Aug. 20 2014)
AUG. 13 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – This is the age of austerity and when money is tight, costs have to be trimmed.
That’s certainly the message Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev was sending out when he announced that he was merging several ministries.
“It is hard to understand, why one government body must be responsible for oil and gas, while another one deals with solid energy resources, the third department controls the power grid and the fourth one the nuclear industry,” Reuters quoted Mr Nazarbayev as saying. “This is why I believe it is time to concentrate the entire energy sector in the hands of one person.”
He appointed his ally Vladimir Shkolnik head of a new super Energy Ministry that merged the Oil and Gas Ministry, the Environmental Protection Ministry and the Ministry for Industry.
Kazakhstan’s economic growth has slowed due to sanctions on Russia over its interference in Ukraine and the failure of the giant Caspian Sea oil field Kashagan to start producing.
Mr Nazarbayev’s downsizing didn’t stop with the energy sector. He disbanded the Agency for Fighting Financial Crimes and gave its responsibilities to the Agency for Civil Affairs and also cut the Ministry for Emergencies, handing its duties to the Interior Ministry.
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(News report from Issue No. 195, published on Aug. 13 2014)
AUG. 4 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s Alliance Bank agreed a debt restructuring deal with creditors ahead of a merger with Temirbank and ForteBank, owned by Kazakh billionaire Bulat Utemuratov. It’s an important deal for the government, which owns 51% of Alliance Bank and has been looking to sell it.
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(News report from Issue No. 194, published on Aug. 6 2014)
JULY 28 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh officials travelled to Bishkek to patch up their differences before Kyrgyzstan’s expected entry into the Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia in 2015.
The meeting, attended by Kazakh deputy PM Bakitzhan Sagyntayev and Kyrgyz PM Djoomart Otorbayev ended positively with Kazakhstan pledging up to $200m in grants for Kyrgyzstan’s entry into the Union and discussing a possible electricity-for-water swap this winter.
But relations between the two sides have been unusually thorny in recent months.
Since April 14, Kazakh Customs Officials have been holding up wagons carrying petrol from the Russian energy giant Rosneft to Kyrgyzstan. Kazakh officials say they are simply complying with a government ruling banning all petrol exports from Kazakhstan. Kyrgyz officials have said that they are being obtuse.
Kazakh and Russian firms are expected to further dominate Kyrgyzstan’s domestic economy when Bishkek becomes a member of the Customs Union, which is morphing into the Eurasia Economic Union, either at the end of this year or the start of next year.
The Customs Union/Eurasian Economic Union will harmonise trade customs procedures and increase tariffs against non-members such as China. This all increases Kyrgyzstan’s reliance on Kazakhstan, making this week’s meeting even more important.
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(News report from Issue No. 193, published on July 30 2014)
JULY 22 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kairat Kelimbetov, the Kazakh Central Bank chief, announced new measures to strengthen Kazakhstan’s banking sector. He said that from 2016, banks will have to hold capital of $30b and from 2017 $50b. Kazakhstan has been trying to protect its finance sector from future economic shocks and weed out the smaller banks.
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(News report from Issue No. 193, published on July 30 2014)
JULY 29 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Italian cyclist Vincenzo Nibali won the Tour de France, cycling’s greatest prize, for the Kazakhstan- sponsored Team Astana. By winning the Tour de France, Mr Nibali has guaranteed Kazakhstan major publicity. Kazakhstan has now said it wants to host the start of the Tour de France before 2020.
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(News report from Issue No. 193, published on July 30 2014)
