OCT. 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a third and final reading, Armenia’s parliament approved a controversial new tax code that has been in the works for two years. The new code will reduce the income tax bracket for most of Armenia’s working population, liberalise VAT and tax dividends. Critics of the reform have said that the new tax code will push Armenia into a recession.
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(News report from Issue No. 299, published on Oct. 7 2016)
OCT. 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The management of Azerbaijan’s Formula One city circuit said they want to change the name of Baku’s grand prix race. Formula One held its first race in Azerbaijan in June, under the European Grand Prix moniker which has previously been assigned to races not fixed to specific geographic area. Azerbaijan, which sees sport as a way of promoting its brand, wants to rename the race as the Azerbaijani Grand Prix, in the style of most of the other races.
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(News report from Issue No. 299, published on Oct. 7 2016)
OCT. 7 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Centerra Gold’s stock price has been on a rollercoaster this summer, closely following the ups and downs of the price of gold.
This week, both fell. Centerra contracted by 9% to 6.49 Canadian dollars and gold registered an unusual 5% fall to $1,254.38/troy ounce on Thursday. After a tense spring, when the Kyrgyz government and Centerra were at loggerheads over permits and court cases, calm now appears to reign. Importantly, though, this year Centerra has actively tried to diversify its portfolio away from Kyrgyzstan, investing in Turkey and in the US.
As part of the financing for the acquisition of Colorado-based Thompson Creek, Centerra issued new shares which analysts said will dilute the share that Kyrgyzaltyn, the government-owned gold miner, owns in Centerra from 32% to approximately 28.8%.
The deal, inked in July, put relations between the company and the government under strain once again.
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(News report from Issue No. 299, published on Oct. 7 2016)
SEPT. 30 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajikistan’s state insurance company wants to see President Emomali Rakhmon’s head on a 1,000 somoni ($127) bill. Globally, the only living heads of state with their faces on banknotes are royals, notably Queen Elizabeth II, and a few presidents-for-life in Africa and Asia. The proposal could now spark a debate around Mr Rakhmon and his growing personality cult.
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(News report from Issue No. 299, published on Oct. 7 2016)
OCT. 6 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Pakistani media hinted that it was anticipating potential supply-side problems with CASA-1000 electricity project by saying that it had invited Russia to make up any short- fall over winter when Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan’s hydropower stations are less productive. The World Bank-backed $1.2b project aims to send electricity from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to Afghanistan and Pakistan by 2019. This year, shortages in Kyrgyzstan have cast doubts over the country’s export capacity and Pakistan has explored other suppliers, including Turkmenistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 299, published on Oct. 7 2016)
OCT. 5 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Parliament approved a ban on underage marriage, five months after MPs had controversially voted against it. Kyrgyz law only allows people over 18 to marry, but under special religious conditions, minors could get married. The bill, which passed by a narrow margin, now needs President Almazbek Atambayev’s signature to enter into force. Around 15% of women marry before turning 18 in Kyrgyzstan, the Kyrgyz statistics committee said.
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(News report from Issue No. 299, published on Oct. 7 2016)
OCT. 5 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – US golf champion Jack Nicklaus flew to Ashgabat to meet with Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov to discuss designing Turkmenistan’s first golf course. Mr Nicklaus’s company, Nicklaus Design, has mulled building a golf course in Turkmenistan, near the border with Iran, for the past couple of years.
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(News report from Issue No. 299, published on Oct. 7 2016)
OCT. 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – During a visit to Uzbekistan by the World Bank’s new regional director for Central Asia, Lilia Burunciuc, the Uzbek ministry of economy asked for a $100m loan to improve the country’s job market. The ministry said it wanted to create around 500,000 new, sustainable jobs over the next five years. In June, the World Bank committed to a new partnership with Uzbekistan, earmarking around $3b for a vast range of projects.
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(News report from Issue No. 299, published on Oct. 7 2016)
OCT. 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – GM Uzbekistan said it has discontinued sales of its Ravon Matiz car model in Russia and shifted exports to Belarus. The company did not give a reason for the marketing decision. Uzbekistan and Belarus have improved trade ties. GM Uzbekistan, a joint venture between US-based GM (25%) and state-owned Uzavtoprom (75%), has had to grapple with a corruption scandal involving car sales to Russia in the past few months.
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(News report from Issue No. 299, published on Oct. 7 2016)
OCT. 3 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyz police released the wife of Sobir Valiev, a Tajik opposition figure, 22 hours after her arrest. Kyrgyzstan’s Security Service said the woman, Zhannat Khamzayeva, was questioned regarding the alleged illegal activities of her husband. Mr Valiyev, a member of the opposition movement Group-24 who currently lives in Poland, is accused of illegal border crossing and forging documents. The Security Service ordered Ms Khamzayeva to remain in the country.
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(News report from Issue No. 299, published on Oct. 7 2016)