OCT. 6 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Armenian government approved a second draft of a new tax code that it hopes will pull in extra revenue and cut its deficit. At its core, media reported that the tax code will target closing tax benefits.
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(News report from Issue No. 251, published on Oct. 9 2015)
OCT. 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — NORINCO International, a Chinese engineering contractor, will build a coal-fired power plant in the Basht district, about 100km to the east of Dushanbe, helping the country increase its power generation capacity. The new plant will have a 350MW capacity. TBEA, another Chinese company, is currently building a similar power plant in Dushanbe, highlighting China’s growing role in Tajikistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 251, published on Oct. 9 2015)
OCT. 2-8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Kazakh tenge lost 1.5% of its value over the past week, ending at 274/$1.
Much of this perceived strength appears to lie with the Central Bank’s little secret — intervention. Despite promising never to intervene in the currency again, the Kazakh Central Bank has spent another $367.5m this week propping up its currency.
Over the border in Kyrgyzstan, the som crept briefly over 69/$1 on Oct. 6, before settling back to 68.9 in a week that saw little of the violent fluctuations of previous episodes. The Kyrgyz Central Bank also intervened in the market, selling $10.2m.
No doubt the successful and peace- ful parliamentary elections would have played well to the steady currency markets. European vote monitors were certainly impressed and that is good for Kyrgyzstan’s image.
The Georgian lari was also stable last week at 2.40. Positive economic data and a substantial stability in foreign reserves reassured lari holders.
The Tajik somoni continued its gradual devaluation against the dollar. By marginally weakening every week, the somoni has lost 2.5% of its value against the dollar over the past month.
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(News report from Issue No. 251, published on Oct. 9 2015)
OCT. 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Kyrgyz Central Bank said remittances from Russia fell by 27% in US dollar terms during the first eight months of this year compared to the same period last year. Cash flows from Russia increased by 18% in rouble terms, but a fall in the value of Russia’s currency against the US dollar meant that the real value fell.
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(News report from Issue No. 251, published on Oct. 9 2015)
OCT. 6 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Coal production in Tajikistan grew by 27% in the first nine months of 2015 to 760,000 tonnes, compared to the same period last year, the government said. This is important both for export revenues and also in the run-up to winter when hydro-power slows and energy demand rises.
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(News report from Issue No. 251, published on Oct. 9 2015)
OCT. 7 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) -Tajik authorities arrested Samikhon Kurbonov, the former chairman of Fononbonk, because of his family ties to Saidumar Khusaini, a high- ranking member of the now banned Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT). Last week, Tajikistan’s Central Bank also placed Fononbonk under receivership.
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(News report from Issue No. 251, published on Oct. 9 2015)
OCT. 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The office of the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) said it was concerned of possible human rights violations linked to Tajikistan’s ban on the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT). It said the ban was an attempt to crush dissent.
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(News report from Issue No. 251, published on Oct. 9 2015)
YEREVAN, OCT. 9 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — After buying Armenia’s electricity network last week, the Russia-based Tashir Group is on the brink of buying the Hrazdan thermal power station, one of the country’s biggest and most important electricity generating plants.
The Armenian Public Services Regulatory Commission said it approved a deal for Tashir, which is owned by Armenian businessman Samvel Karapetyan, to buy Hrazdan from Russia’s Inter RAO. Inter RAO also sold the electricity network to Tashir.
After a summer of popular protests against electricity price increases that Inter RAO had wanted to impose, Tashir Group, which has a large property portfolio, will now dominate the Armenian electricity sector.
Mr Karapetyan, who is based in Moscow and is one of the richest men in Russia, is the brother of Karen, a member of the Armenian parliament.
The Armenian government backed the deals involving Tashir Group, although details have not yet been disclosed.
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(News report from Issue No. 251, published on Oct. 9 2015)
OCT. 6 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The proportion of savings in Kazakhstan held in foreign currency measured 78% in August, according to the ranking.kz website, a sharp increase from a year earlier. Foreign currency deposits in August 2014 measured 60% of the total. Kazakh savers have gradually lost faith in their currency.
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(News report from Issue No. 251, published on Oct. 9 2015)
OCT. 5 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan has ordered 60 T-129 ATAK helicopters from Turkey for $3b, media reported, part of a major upgrade to its military. Azerbaijan has openly said that it is spending a large chunk of its oil wealth on updating and modernising its military.
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(News report from Issue No. 251, published on Oct. 9 2015)