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Irritation rises at new bus ticketing system in Kazakh city

JAN. 22 2016, ALMATY/Kazakhstan (The Conway Bulletin) — Bus drivers in Kazakhstan’s financial capital have been striking because of the introduction of an electronic ticketing system which they say makes their job harder, one side of a row that highlights the problems introducing modern ticketing systems into Soviet-era systems brings.

Under the new system, passengers buy a day pass for the bus system for 400 tenge and tap in and out on a monitor in the body of the bus. Under the old system, passengers bought separate tickets for each journey.

From Oct. 1, Almaty was the first city in Kazakhstan to operate an electronic ticket system. Until Jan. 11 it ran alongside the previous token system. Since then, though, it has become the only way for passengers to pay their travel fares. And many don’t like it.

Kuralai Abenova, a frequent user of public transport said: “I like this cashless system but I am afraid I’d forget this card at home. If I ride without this card, I will be fined.”

According to the head of Almaty’s public transport network, Dauren Alimbekov, the new ticketing system cost $12m to introduce.

His staff also said that the bus drivers who went on strike and were deemed to be in breach of their contract would be sacked.

As for the bus drivers they have said that up to 40% of the passengers now ride the bus for free.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

Fitch downgrades Kazakh kommertsbank

JAN. 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Ratings agency Fitch downgraded Kazkommertsbank’s long-term credit to CCC from B- because of a fall in the value of the tenge. Fitch said: “The downgrade reflects a significant increase in the volume of problem (mostly foreign currency-denominated) exposures, primarily as a result of the tenge’s devaluation.”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

Azerbaijani organisers deny F1 race

JAN. 21 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The organisers of Azerbaijan’s first Formula 1 race, scheduled for June, denied that the current economic downturn has hit their plans to stage the event. They were responding to media reports that they were going to have to downgrade their plans after a 50% fall in the value of their manat currency over the past year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

2nd Mortgage protest takes place in Kazakhstan

JAN. 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Around 100 women covered in grey sheets marched in protest to Kazkommertsbank and Bank Center Credit to complain about how they treat mortgage holders, their second protest this month. The protesters said that they have struggled to pay their debts since the the tenge lost 50% of its value during a devaluation in August. The authorities in Kazakhstan fear economic problems will trigger social discontent.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

Low oil prices hurt Georgia

JAN. 21 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Although not an energy producing country, Georgia is also suffering heavily from the continued low oil prices, PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili said during a speech at the Davos Economic Forum. He said that as an oil trading nation, investment linked to energy has dried up over the past year. Mr Kvirikashvili again said that the government was looking into a 0% tax scheme on reinvested profits.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

Azerbaijani lawyer to defend journalist

JAN. 21 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Khadija Ismayilova, a high-profile imprisoned Azerbaijani journalist, said that she had appointed Amal Clooney, the wife of Hollywood star George Clooney, as her lawyer ahead of a hearing in the European Court of Human Rights linked to her conviction this year on economic-related charges. Ismayilova is looking to challenge her conviction through the European Court. Europe and the West have accused Azerbaijan of cracking down on free speech.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

Armenia’s Ameriabank aims for London IPO within 2 or 3 years

JAN. 21 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Ameriabank, Armenia’s largest bank, said it wants to list its shares on the London stock exchange, after it received an investment of around $100m from international lenders, including the EBRD and the World Bank’s IFC.

If Ameriabank does list on LSE, it would be the first Armenian bank, or company even, to be publicly traded on a Western stock exchange. In the South Caucasus it would be the second publicly traded bank after Bank of Georgia.

Ameriabank’s chairman Andrew Mkrtchyan said the bank plans an IPO in the next two or three years.

“Our aspiration is an IPO (initial public offering) and to try to triple our balance sheet in the next three years,” Mr Mkrtchyan told Reuters.

The EBRD said it paid $30m for an equity stake of around 20% in Ameriabank and has pledged an additional $10m for the bank’s asset growth.

“This is the largest single-ticket equity deal the EBRD has signed in the region to date,” the EBRD said in a statement.

By becoming a shareholder, the EBRD has committed to growing the bank in Armenia.

“As a shareholder the EBRD will support Ameriabank’s development, with a special emphasis on corporate governance,” Mark Davis, head of the EBRD Yerevan office, said.

The World Bank’s IFC also provided Ameriabank with a $50m loan to increase its lending capacity.

For Armenia, the investments by the EBRD and the IFC are a vote of confidence in its banking sector and are especially important at a time when currencies and economies in the region are depreciating or falling back on earlier growth spurts.

For foreign investors, an Ameriabank IPO would give them a chance to buy into an Armenian corporation for the first time.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

Turkmen officials burn cigarettes

JAN. 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmen officials burnt piles of cigarettes in another indication that the reclusive state is on the brink of an outright ban on smoking, the AP news agency reported. Earlier this month, AFP reported that officials had told storekeepers to remove cigarettes from their shelves. President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov is known to hate smoking.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

Uzbekistan searches for assets

JAN. 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan is trying to recover up to $1m of assets frozen in bank accounts in Europe belonging to Gulnara Karimova, the eldest daughter of Uzbek president Islam Karimov, media reported. Ms Karimova has been under house arrest in Tashkent for nearly two years. She was once considered a potential successor to her father. Swiss authorities are investigating her for money laundering.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

Ozenmunaigas denies media reports

JAN. 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Ozenmunaigas, a subsidiary of Kazakhstan’s state-owned energy company Kazmunaigas, denied reports in the media that it has received preferential treatment over taxes owed to the government. In a separate statement, Kazmunaigas said that Ozenmunaigas’s break-even oil price for the first three quarters of 2015 was $65/barrel, above the average global price of $55/barrel.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)