Tag Archives: Kazakhstan

Gulen schools will not close, says Kazakhstan

MARCH 6 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s ministry of education refuted a statement from Turkey which said that 33 Kazakh-Turkish schools linked to the Gulen Movement would be transferred to Turkish control. Turkey blames the Gulen Movement for a coup attempt last year and has looked to close all institutions linked to it, including a series of schools across Central Asia. Both Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan have said that they will not close the Gulen schools. Last year, Kazakhstan rebranded the Gulen-linked schools as “Bilim Innovative Lyceums”. Bilim means education in Kazakh.

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(News report from Issue No. 320, published on March 13 2017)

Currencies: Georgian lari, Kazakh tenge, Uzbek som

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MARCH 8 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Pushed up by decent economic data and a rise in interest rates to battle inflation which threatens to pick up this year, the Georgian lari hit a four-month high against the US dollar on March 7 of 2.45/$1, according to data from Bloomberg.

It slipped back slightly towards the end of the week to 2.5/$1 but it is still 9.1% stronger than on Jan. 1.

The Kazakh tenge fell slightly over the past fortnight but it is, too, performing well in 2017, racking up gains of around 5% this year.

As for the Uzbek som, as shown in our graph, the authorities appear to have speeded up their managed devaluation of the currency. The official exchange rate is now at 3,452/$1 an all-time low. The graph clearly shows how the steps taken to devalue the som have increased in size since mid-February. The Uzbek som is now 4.3% weaker against the US dollaxr than it was on Feb. 16. This managed downward trajectory for the som is expected to continue.

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(News report from Issue No. 320, published on March 13 2017)

Kazakhstan’s wheat shipment arrives in Vietnam

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MARCH 9 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The first shipment of wheat from Kazakhstan reached Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam on March 4, the website of Kazakh PM Bakytzhan Sagintayev said. At a ceremony in Ho Chi Minh City, the Kazakh ambassador to Vietnam said part of the importance of the shipment of wheat reaching Vietnam was to test the transit route from Central Asia, across China and down to south-east Asia.

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(News report from Issue No. 320, published on March 13 2017)

Nuclear fuel bank in Kazakhstan nears completion

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MARCH 6 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — A low enriched uranium bank being built in Kazakhstan should be operational by September, the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Yukiya Amano said in a press release. The uranium fuel bank will be the first of its kind in the world and will allow countries to buy uranium for nuclear fuel. It will be administered by the IAEA. For Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev, the fuel bank will be a personal success as he wants to build Kazakhstan’s reputation as a global centre for nuclear energy. Kazakhstan is the world’s biggest uranium miner.

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(News report from Issue No. 320, published on March 13 2017)

Car ownership in Kazakhstan rises up 400%

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MARCH 10 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The number of registered cars in Kazakhstan has nearly quadrupled since 2000, media reported quoting interior ministry figures. It said that there were now 4.4m cars registered in Kazakhstan, compared to 1.3m in 2000. Environmentalists have said that in Almaty, the thick smog that hovers over the city is, at least partially, linked to the high car use. There have been calls to try and curb car ownership in Kazakhstan.

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(News report from Issue No. 320, published on March 13 2017)

Oil price gives Kazakh GDP boost

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MARCH 2 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Strong oil prices may boost GDP growth in Kazakhstan to 2.8% this year, economy minister Timur Suleimenov told Reuters in an interview. The previous government GDP growth estimate for 2017 had been 2.5%. Last month, Kazakhstan increased its expected oil price this year for its government budget to $50/barrel up from $35/barrel.

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(News report from Issue No. 319, published on March 3 2017)

Kazakh president’s grandson becomes football vice-president

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FEB. 28 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s Football Federation appointed 26-year-old Aysultan Nazarbayev, President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s grandson, as its vice- president. Nazarbayev junior is keen on football and trained for six months with the English football club Portsmouth. He is the eldest son of Pres. Nazarbayev’s daughter Dariga Nazarbayeva and has even been spoken of as a future president.

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(News report from Issue No. 319, published on March 3 2017)

Kazakh elite are winners from bank merger

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MARCH 3 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — By merging Kazkommertsbank with Halyk Bank, the Kazakh elite have completed their drive to control the country’s banking sector.

It’s been a long campaign but, for the Kazakh elite, one worth fighting and winning. If previously, the country’s banking sector had been troublesome, creating billionaires such as Mukhtar Ablyazov and Nurlan Subkhanberdin who didn’t necessarily want to go along with President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s vision for Kazakhstan, now they have full control.

The process to subjugate the banking sector started with the government’s purchase of BTA Bank in 2008/9 when it was on the brink of collapse. Next came the not-so-subtle takeover of Kazkommertsbank in 2014/15 and then its absorption of BTA Bank, and its mountain of bad debt.

And now we have the denouement.

Kazkommertsbank has apparently agreed to merge with, or perhaps more accurately – be taken over by, Halyk Bank. The first and second biggest banks in the country will create a mega-bank that will dominate the sector.

Halyk Bank is owned by Dinara Kulibayeva, President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s daughter, and her husband, Timur Kulibayev. Since 2015, the 37-year-old Kenes Rakishev, one of the Kazakh elite’s favourite businessmen has been the majority owner of Kazkommertsbank. Last year he also became its chairman.

And, as if to underline the elite/insider nature of the deal, the Kazakh Central Bank has given the deal its blessing, saying that it will provide the necessary funds to see it through, including buying up the bad debt that Kazkommertzbank inherited when it took over BTA Bank. In other words, expect the new bank to be in excellent health and to be fully compliant to the whims of the Kazakh elite.

This cements the elite’s control of Kazakh business and banking. Opposition forces will never have as much leverage, good or bad, as when Ablyazov controlled BTA Bank and Subkhanberdin controlled Kazkommertsbank.

The business acumen of the Kazkommertsbank-Halyk merger may not be obvious, but the political reasons are crystal clear.

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(News report from Issue No. 319, published on March 3 2017)

New Syria talks to take place in Kazakhstan

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MARCH 1 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The next round of talks aimed at ending a civil war in Syria are planned for Astana on March 14, media reported. This is the continuation of a series of talks this year in Astana involving Syrian rebels, forces loyal to Syrian president Bashir al-Assad, Russia, Turkey and Iran. For Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev the talks have been useful in bolstering Kazakhstan’s international profile.

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(News report from Issue No. 319, published on March 3 2017)

Kazakh authorities clamping down on rights groups

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FEB. 21 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The New York-based Human rights Watch said that the authorities in Kazakhstan have been harassing two local human rights groups by falsely alleging that their tax receipts were wrong. HRW said that International Legal Initiative Foundation and Liberty had both faced tax audits. The Kazakh authorities have not commented. Rights groups have previously accused Kazakhstan of using official channels to close down groups that it finds a nuisance.

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(News report from Issue No. 318, published on Feb.24 2017)