JAN. 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyz media reported that one border guard was killed and two more injured during a gunfight near the frontier with Tajikistan. It is unclear if the gunfight was linked to the ongoing border dispute between the two neighbours or if it is related to smuggling or other crimes.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 215, published on Jan. 21 2015)
>>Tajik CBank can’t afford aggressive defence of somoni again>>
JAN. 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russia’s rouble crisis is pushing Tajikistan to the brink of bankruptcy. The Tajik Central Bank has said that it spent half the country’s reserves last year trying to prop up its currency against the falling rouble.
These are worrying times for Central Asia’s governments. A combination of falling oil prices and Russia’s economic turmoil is pressuring their own finances.
Remittances from Russia have fallen sharply in value over the past six months or so, undermining economies in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan especially.
Central Banks have been spending heavily to try to bolster their currencies against a falling Russian rouble but this has proved difficult.
Despite spending half its national reserves — there is now less than $500m left in the Central Bank’s reserves — the value of the Tajik somoni has still fallen over 10% against the US dollar. Inflation has also risen.
All the signs are that 2015 will be complicated too. What the Tajik government can’t afford, though, is another costly battle to defend the somoni.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 215, published on Jan. 21 2015)
JAN. 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in Tajikistan sentenced one of the country’s most prominent lawyers to nine years in jail for bribery and fraud.
Supporters of Sukhrat Kudratov, the jailed lawyer, said that his real crime was to defend opposition activist and former government official Zaid Saidov in 2013. Saidov was jailed for corruption as well as polygamy.
Certainly the case against Kudratov seems weak and the punishment meted out excessive.
On twitter, Steve Swerdlow of the New York-based Human Rights Watch said: “Jailing of Shurat Kudratov is a serious setback for the freedom of expression and the independent legal profession in Tajikistan.”
As well as being a high profile lawyer prepared to take on human rights cases that others would ignore, Kudratov was a member of the Social Democratic Party of Tajikistan, an opposition party. His name was on their list of candidates for a parliamentary election in March.
Human rights and democracy groups have long criticised Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon for his authoritarian policies. He has been Tajik president since the end of a civil war in the mid-1990s.
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(News report from Issue No. 214, published on Jan. 14 2015)
JAN. 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajikistan has given the go-ahead for Turkish Coca-Cola Icecek, which produces and distributes Coca-Cola products across Central Asia, to build its first bottling plant in Dushanbe, media reported. The project will cost $50m and generate up to 500 new jobs.
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(News report from Issue No. 214, published on Jan. 14 2015)
JAN. 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajikistan’s security services are constructing a new base on the border with Afghanistan to oppose an apparent build-up of Taliban forces, media reported. Central Asian government have worried that the Taliban is preparing an assault once NATO leaves Afghanistan.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 214, published on Jan. 14 2015)
JAN. 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russia’s Gazprom has given up searching for oil in two of its four exploration blocks in Tajikistan, media reported. Interfax, a Russian news agency, said that Gazprom had been working since 2003 on the projects. It still plans to explore its two remaining blocks. Tajikistan has said that it hopes a major oil and gas discovery will boost its economic prospects.
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(News report from Issue No. 214, published on Jan. 14 2015)
>>Central Bank has already increased interest rates this year>>
DEC. 29 2014, (The Conway Bulletin) — Inflation in Tajikistan jumped to over 7% in 2014, the Central Bank said, around double the rate in 2013.
The final figures for the year are not yet out but the Central Bank said annualised inflation up to the end of November had been 6.8% and that this would creep up again when December’s data was analysed.
Tajikistan raised its interest rates in October to 6.9%, its highest level since 2012, up from 4.8% earlier in the year, to try and steady its economy against rising inflation.
With remittances from Russia, which contribute to around 50% of GDP, dropping because of a slowdown in the Russian economy, Tajikistan is facing up to an increasingly tough time.
News that inflation is rising just adds to the headache.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)
JAN. 5 2015, (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajik militants fighting for the radical Islamic group IS in Syria have reportedly said they want to return home to attack Tajikistan. This is Central Asian leaders’ worst nightmare. They fear radicalised and battle-hardened Islamic fighters will return to fight in their home countries.
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(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)
JAN. 6 2015, (The Conway Bulletin) — A Sheraton hotel, owned by the Starwood Hotels & Resorts brand, has opened in Dushanbe, media reported. Dushanbe is undergoing something of a hotel boom in recent years with several major chains opening in the Tajik capital.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)
DEC. 19 2014, (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in Khujand, north Tajikistan, convicted 11 men of belonging to the banned militant group Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). Alongside the growing lure of the radical group IS, the governments of Central Asia fear signs that the IMU is gaining momentum. It has launched attacks previously in Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)
