MAY 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Sales of new apartments in Georgia have slumped because of the worsening economic conditions, media reported quoting developers. Specifically, sales of luxury apartments are down 70% and sales of more basic apartments have dropped by 10%.
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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)
MAY 26 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Rupert Colville, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that Kyrgyzstan should drop a draft law that will make cooperation between local and foreign NGOs more complicated. “This vague wording may put at risk numerous organisations working to deliver services or conduct human rights advocacy,” he said.
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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)
MAY 21 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Tashkent ordered the closure of Noviy Vek, a privately owned weekly newspaper for, apparently, undermining the moral values of the country. Uzbekistan has one of the worst records for free press in the world.
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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)
MAY 28 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A senior Uzbek official hinted that Uzbekistan wanted to increase its export of refined cotton fabrics. Media quoted Dilbar Mukhamedova, a senior official in UzbekYengil- Sanoat, the state company which produces light industrial goods, as saying that Uzbekistan currently produces $1b of refined cotton products.
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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)
MAY 25 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a new report, the World Bank said remittances from Tajik migrant workers to their relatives might drop by 40% this year.
Remittances in 2014 from Tajiks working in Russia made up over 42% of Tajikistan’s GDP keeping the country at the top of the world’s most remittance- dependent ranking.
The World Bank’s forecast, therefore, makes for grim reading.
According to the World Bank the Tajik economy will experience a much slower growth than in the past few years. The country’s GDP in 2015 will grow at 3.2%, less than half its 2014 figure of 6.7%.
The World Bank forecasts the growth to return above 5% only in 2017. It also said that inflation would rise steadily over the next two years to around 10%.
The data presented by the World Bank paints a dark picture for Tajikistan’s short term future.
The World Bank has given similar pessimistic forecasts for Kyrgyzstan.
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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)
MAY 21 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Halyk Bank, Kazakhstan’s second largest bank majority owned by the daughter of Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev and her husband Timur Kulibayev, posted year-on-year profits down 29%. Costs had risen, in particular workers’ salaries. Kazakhstan devalued its currency in 2014, triggering wage inflation.
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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)
MAY 21 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Direct Tbilisi-Tehran flights will begin next month, media reported quoting Tbilisi mayor David Narmania. The launch of a direct route between Tbilisi and Tehran highlights the growing links between the two countries. Tehran’s mayor Mohammad Bagher was visiting Tbilisi to sign a twinning agreement.
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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)
MAY 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – With European gas supplies in mind, Turkmenistan intends to increase gas output, media quoted the petroleum minister, Muhammetnur Halyov, as saying. Turkmenistan is positioning itself to become a major supplier of gas to the EU in the next few years.
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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)
MAY 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – At its summit meeting in Riga, the EU promised Georgia that it would decide by the end of the year whether to grant Georgians visa-free travel.
Georgia’s government has lobbied hard for a visa-free regime across Europe as it sees this as a vital step towards achieving its ultimate aim of joining the EU.
The EU had presented the so-called Visa Liberalisation Action Plan (VLAP) progress report on Georgia and Ukraine a couple of weeks earlier. It congratulated Georgia on its progress, but also pointed out that it needed to implement reforms in asylum, anti-corrup- tion, human trafficking and drugs.
The decision was a disappointment to Georgia’s government as well as for many ordinary Georgians. Misha Shavtvaladze, a political scientist from Tbilisi State University, explained.
“But the fact that we are not ready for this upgrade had a negative psychological effect. It has a lot to do with the national pride, like winning the Eurovision does.”
The opposition blamed the government for the lack of good news, but Georgian PM Irakli Garibashvili said he did receive a positive message from the EU. Georgia will be the next country to be granted visa waiver, possibly even earlier than Ukraine, he told media.
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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)
MAY 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s parliament will consider adopting a law that will shift supervisory powers over commercial banks away from the Central Bank to an independent supervisory body, media reported.
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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)