APRIL 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Inflation in Georgia will hit 5% by end-2015, Central Bank chief Giorgi Kadagidze told Bloomberg. Mr Kadagidze said the devaluing lari was the main reason for the predicted inflation rise. Official statistics said annualised inflation measured 2.6% in March.
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(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)
APRIL 6 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – An earthquake measuring 3.5 on the Richter scale shook northern Armenia. There were no causalities but the earthquake was recorded in Yerevan with a strength of 2 to 3 on the Richter Scale.
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(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)
APRIL 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s Central Bank chief, Elman Rustamov, said that he believed the Azerbaijani government budget for 2016 would be based on oil costing around $50 per barrel, media said.
This is significant as Azerbaijan struggles to make a profit if oil prices are stuck at around $50 per barrel.
Effectively, then, Mr Rustamov is predicting the problems facing Azerbaijan’s economy will continue into next year.
At the end of last year Azerbaijan’s government had to cut various projects because oil prices had collapsed. Azerbaijan’s economy is hugely dependent on energy. International advisers have said that the government needs to concentrate on diversifying its economy away from oil and gas. Reform has been slow, though.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)
APRIL 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajikistan is poised to receive $1.2b in military equipment and weapons from Russia to fight against the radical Islamic group IS.
An unnamed source in the Russian Defence Ministry told Russian newspaper Kommersant the aid will be spread across the next few years. What is clear is that the aid pulls Tajikistan further into the Kremlin’s orbit and strengthen its security driven regional focus.
It also intensifies the rhetoric. Previously Russia and Tajikistan had discussed the threat posed by the Taliban in Afghanistan. That has now morphed into the threat from IS. IS had previously only been associated with recruiting in Central Asia.
Some analysts are sceptical and have said that Russia and various Central Asia countries are using IS and the Taliban as a scare-mongering tactic.
Earlier this month, President Emomali Rakhmon criticised women for wearing “foreign, non traditional clothes,” while the state television channel insinuated that demand for prostitutes wearing black hijabs was increasing. This resonated as a subtle comparison between women wearing traditional Islamic head scarves and prostitutes wearing black hijabs (April 1).
Tajikistan has taken a strong stance against radical Islam. This means more control over society, less freedom of expression, and more options for arbitrary rule of law.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)
APRIL 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajikistan has raised tax on mobile phone connections to 5% from 3%, an industry website reported. Reports said that the increase in tax will force mobile phone companies to pass on the extra cost to their consumers, pushing up inflation across the country.
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(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)
APRIL 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Uzbekistan sent 12 men to prison for belonging to a jihadist group, Russian news agencies reported. Prosecutors said the men were distributing pamphlets and videos promoting extremism. Central Asian governments are worried about the lure of the IS extremist group.
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(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)
APRIL 7 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Police in Armenia raided the homes of four opposition activists they say had plotted riots during a planned memorial on the 100th anniversary later this month of an alleged massacre by Ottoman Turks of Armenians in eastern Turkey.
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(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)
APRIL 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan’s government passed a law that will pave the way for a joint venture between Uzavtomprom and Germany’s MAN Group to build truck cabins. The factory should be operational by 2016. Uzbekistan has developed a substantial auto industry although a region-wide economic decline has hit demand.
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(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)
APRIL 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A proposed $70b takeover of BG by Royal Dutch Shell will have implications for Kazakhstan’s energy sector. BG is a major shareholder in, and the operator of, the Karachaganak oil and gas project in north Kazakhstan. This will pass to Shell if the deal goes through.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)
APRIL 5 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Around 1,000 people gathered on the outskirts of Baku to demonstrate against a stalling economy and a crackdown on civil rights. The authorities sanctioned the rally. Some opposition said the real aim was to nullify genuine anti-government protests.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)