Author Archives: Editor

Bank of Georgia posts “outstanding” Q3 results

TBILISI/Nov. 7 (The Bulletin) — London-listed Bank of Georgia said that its Q3 profit was 30% higher this year than in 2018, pushing its shares up by nearly 8%.

The bank, one of the two biggest banks in Georgia, generally performs well if Georgia’s economy is performing well and it has boomed over the past couple of years, helped by a surge in tourism and renewed business confidence after a slump in 2014-16.

In what it described as an “outstanding” quarter, Bank of Georgia said that its income from interest was 1.8% higher than Q3 2018 at 188.7m lari and that there had been a 22% rise in net fee and commission income to 48m lari.

Bank of Georgia CEO, Archil Gachechiladze, said that the bank had shifted from a high yield, high risk loan portfolio to a lower risk and lower yield portfolio.

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— This story was first published in issue 428 of the weekly Bulletin.

Kazakh police stand aside for protest

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NOV. 9 (The Bulletin) –The authorities in Kazakhstan monitored, but did not intercept, an unsanctioned protest in Almaty organised by the Oyan, Qazaqstan group wants the system of government to switch towards a parliamentary democracy and for political prisoners to be released. It is rare for police not to detain protesters at unsanctioned protests. This year there has been an increase in the number of protests in Kazakhstan.

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— This story was first published in issue 428 of the weekly Bulletin

Anglo Asian Mining says it has found more gold

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NOV. 4 (The Bulletin) — Anglo-Asian Mining, the Azerbaijan-focused gold producer, said that it had found new gold reserves at its Gedabek mine. It said of the new gold reserves that it “identified further mineable extensions giving increased confidence in life of mine”. Anglo Asian Mining is listed on the London Stock Exchange and has seen its share price increase rapidly over the past couple of years.

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— This story was first published in issue 428 of the weekly Bulletin.

Georgia Healthcare issues debt

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NOV. 7 (The Bulletin) — The hospital unit of Georgia Healthcare, the London-listed private clinic and pharmacy operator, said that it had issued a bond worth 50m lari ($16.9m). Georgia Healthcare has been expanding its pharmacy unit and in a statement said that cash raised by the bond sale would go towards refinancing more expensive debt.

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— This story was first published in issue 428 of the weekly Bulletin.

Lydian says Armenian government still blocking its plans

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NOV. 5 (The Bulletin) — Lydian International, the Colorado-based mining company, has complained that ministers in Armenia are trying to block it from exploiting the Amular mine in the south of the country once again. It said that a minister has thrown out plans it had put forward on just how much water it planned to take out of the Darb river. Work was stopped at the mine in June 2018 because of various environmental complaints but in October officials greenlighted the project.

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— This story was first published in issue 428 of the weekly Bulletin.

IS claims responsibility for attack near Dushanbe

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DUSHANBE/Nov. 8 (The Bulletin) — The IS extremist group claimed responsibility for an attack on a security checkpoint in Tajikistan that killed 17 people.

Tajikistan’s National Security Committee said that four cars carrying armed men and women attacked the checkpoint around 60km outside Dushanbe. Two members of the Tajik security forces and 15 assailants died in the attack. This year, the Tajik authorities blamed IS for deadly violence in a prison and last year, IS claimed responsibility for an attack on Western tourists that killed four people.

Tajik and Russian security analysts have said that IS and the Taliban are planning on targeting Tajikistan. >>See page 2 for comment

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— This story was first published in issue 428 of the weekly Bulletin.

Uzbekistan test fires Chinese missile

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NOV. 8 (The Bulletin) — Uzbekistan’s military test fired a Chinese FD-2000 missile system that media said was based on Russia’s S-300 surface-to-air system. The missile test shows how China is making in-roads into every aspect of Central Asia’s government, economy and military. Previously, former Soviet states almost exclusively bought military kit from Russia.

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— This story was first published in issue 428 of the weekly Bulletin

Kazakh banks still giving out dodgy loans, says Moody’s

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NOV. 7 (The Bulletin) — Banks in Kazakhstan are still giving out risky retail loans, Moody’s the ratings agency said. Bank lending in Kazakhstan is a contentious issue as it has been highlighted as one of the biggest contributors to weakness of the Kazakh economy. Moody’s said that the ratio of retail loans to overall household income will be 2.4 times by mid-2020, the level reached in 2013 just before a recession. Kazakhstan’s Central Bank is the country’s financial supervisor and has tried to impose rules that were supposed to improve lending rules to limit exposure to bed debt.

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— This story was first published in issue 428 of the weekly Bulletin.

Kazakhstan criticises budget for Tengiz upgrade

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NOV. 6 (The Bulletin) — Kazakh energy minister Kanat Bozumbayev said that the budget for expanding the Tengiz oil field was too high, a declaration that sets Kazakhstan’s government at odds with Tengiz’s Western investors. The Tengiz project, which is led by Chevron, is Kazakhstan’s biggest producing oil field. Reports have appeared which have said that it will cost $45.2b to expand Tengiz, up from an initial cost estimate of $36.8b.

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— This story was first published in issue 428 of the weekly Bulletin.

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YEREVAN/NOV. 11 (The Bulletin) — Armenia will soon allow Russia to inspect three US-linked biochemical laboratories near Yerevan, part of a network across the former Soviet Union that the Kremlin has said is being used to develop weapons.

Granting Russia access to the US-sponsored sites is an indication of just how close relations have become between the Kremlin and Yerevan since Nikol Pashinyan took over as Armenian PM after a revolution last year. He has sent Armenian deminers and doctors to support Russia’s operations in Syria and also made deals with Iran, all to the irritation of Washington.

At a joint press conference with Armenian foreign minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan in Yerevan, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said that a deal to visit the biochemical laboratories would be finalised “soon”.

“We see very close contacts between our countries’ economic departments; intergovernmental commissions are getting ready for work in Yerevan in the first half of next year. Yerevan will also host a Russian-Armenian inter-regional forum,” Mr Lavrov said.

The US government has always denied that the laboratories are developing weapons and has said it would be happy for the Russians to tour them. Instead, it has said that the labs are developing “disease response and reporting capabilities” and that, although part-funded by the US, they are under the full control of the Armenian government.

The biochemical laboratories have been a source of frustration for the Kremlin, alleging that the US is using them to develop biological weapons. Last year Mr Lavrov directly accused the Lugar laboratories in Tbilisi of being a front for a US weapons plant, a row that angered the US and damaged Georgia-Russia relations.

The warm relations between Russia and Armenia have taken analysts by surprise. Most had expected the Kremlin to disapprove of a revolution in Armenian in April and May 2018 that ushered Mr Pashinyan into power, previously an apparently pro-Western fringe politician. He, though, has proved keen to keep the Kremlin onside.
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— This story was first published in issue 430 of the weekly Bulletin.