SEPT. 6 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in Azerbaijani sentence two men to 13 and 14-1/2 years in prison for fighting for the extremist IS group in Syria. Governments in the S.Caucasus have been clamping down on IS recruitment.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 295, published on Sept. 9 2016)
SEPT. 7 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — A NATO-sponsored military exercise took place in Georgia, the second in four months, potentially aggravating Georgia-Russia relations. Six countries participated in the military exercises. Georgia wants to join NATO and contributed to NATO operations in Afghanistan.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 295, published on Sept. 9 2016)
SEPT. 5 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — An agreement on Georgia’s visa-free arrangement with the EU moved forward after a committee at the European Parliament voted in favour of the proposal. There are still hurdles, though, as the agreement, which was delayed in June, must be approved by the Parliament, the European Commission and EU member states.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 295, published on Sept. 9 2016)
SEPT. 7 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia’s Central Bank cut interest rates by 25 basis points to 6.5%, the fourth rate cut in five months. The Central Bank has said it wants to lower interest rates further to prop up economic activity. In April, before the first cut, Georgia’s key interest rate stood at 8%. Georgian interest rates have yoyoed from 4% for most of 2014, climbing sharply to 8% before being lowered.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 295, published on Sept. 9 2016)
SEPT. 6 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Mukhiddin Kabiri, leader-in-exile of the banned Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT), was placed on the Interpol wanted list. The Tajik government accuses Mr Kabiri of terrorism and fraud. Over the past year, it has accused the IRPT of an attempted coup previously and arrested its leaders.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 295, published on Sept. 9 2016)
SEPT. 7 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Pakistan said it wanted Turkmenistan to be more involved in the CASA-1000 electricity transmission project and drop plans to build an alternative electricity supply route. CASA-1000 is a World Bank-backed $1.2b plan to bring electricity from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Turkmenistan has pledged to either join the project or supply electricity to Pakistan via alternative routes.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 295, published on Sept. 9 2016)
SEPT. 9 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s Central Bank raised its key interest rate to 15% from 9.5%, its highest level since 2008, to try to boost confidence in the ailing currency.
The manat has been falling in value for weeks, hitting an all-time low of 1.67/$1 on Friday, setting off fears of another currency crisis. Last year, the Central Bank devalued its currency twice, undermining confidence and wiping out people’s manat-based savings. A series of protests across the country against the worsening economic conditions, almost unprecedented in Azerbaijan, unnerved the Azerbaijani leadership.
The currency had been gaining in value this year until the end of May when it began to slip again. The manat has now lost 11% of its value since May 30.
The day before, the Azerbaijani Central Bank had sold $100m to try to prop up its currency.
Last week, Bloomberg News reported that local banks and exchange bureaus had suspended sales of foreign currencies due to the high demand.
Ratings agency Moody’s said the government should change regulations on capital controls brought in earlier this year.
“The restrictions on foreign-currency sales have led to the emergence of a parallel exchange market, which in our view speaks to the challenges the central bank faces to stem dollar demand and elevates risks of an accelerated depreciation in the official exchange rate,” Moody’s analysts said in a report.
Low oil prices have hit Azerbaijan’s economy hard over the past two years. Azerbaijan ‘s economy is particularly dependent on oil revenues as it generates around 3/4 of its income.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 295, published on Sept. 9 2016)
ASTANA, SEPT. 8 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev shifted Karim Massimov, one of his closest allies, from PM to head the country’s security services, an unexpected reshuffle that may prepare the way for a more significant promotion linked to his succession plans.
Bakhytzhan Sagintayev, previously a deputy PM, was appointed interim PM but he is likely to make way when Mr Nazarbayev proposes a new PM to parliament, which MPs will then rubber-stamp.
Dariga Nazarbayeva, Mr Nazarbayev’s daughter, who was named deputy PM one year ago is touted as a potential new PM and possible next president. Analysts have discussed other high-profile Kazakh officials but she is considered a front runner. Mr Nazarbayev is 76-years-old and his apparent lack of a succession plan was highlighted by the unexpected death this month of Islam Karimov, Uzbekistan’s president.
Mr Massimov had served for the second time as Kazakh PM since April 2014. His move to the head the security services will help Mr Nazarbayev maintain his authority over the apparatus, considered essential for maintaining control over the country. Vladimir Zhumakanov, who had been head of the Security Service since December 2015, was appointed advisor to the president.
Mr Sagintayev, the interim PM, is a career bureaucrat who had been head of the Zhambyl region before becoming, briefly, in 2012 and 2013 Kazakhstan’s economy minister and then a deputy PM.
He is clearly trusted and was appointed head of the Kazakh atomic agency in 2015 after the death of one of Mr Nazarbayev’s favourites, Nurlan Kapparov.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 295, published on Sept. 9 2016)
SEPT. 7 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — British oil company BP said it expects flat oil output in Azerbaijan in 2017. BP also expects oil prices to hover around $40- 50/barrel for the next two years. In the first six months of 2016, production at Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG), Azerbaijan’s biggest oil producing field, production rose to 16m tonnes, 2% higher than in the same period in 2015.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 295, published on Sept. 9 2016)
SEPT. 7 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Tajik government sold a 50% stake in Tajik Azot, a fertiliser producer, to China’s Henan Zhong Holding, a chemical company. Under the deal, the Chinese company pledged to invest $360m to modernise and operate the plant, giving Tajikistan’s economy a boost. In 2014, the government seized Tajik Azot, previously owned by Ukrainian businessman Dmitro Firtash, after Firtash was arrested in Vienna.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 295, published on Sept. 9 2016)