Category Archives: Uncategorised

Armenia raises interest rates, again

>>Inflation and Russian rouble devaluation are pressuring Armenian Central Bank>>

FEB. 10 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenia’s Central Bank increased its key interest rate to 10.5% from 9.5%, the third rate rise since December, because of rising inflation.

Data from the Central Bank showed that annualised inflation hit 4.3% in January which is at the top end of the government’s target range.

Central Banks across Central Asia and the South Caucasus have steadily been increasing interest rates to keep pace with Russian monetary moves. Russia is trying to defend its currency against both falling oil prices and the impact of sanctions.

Armenia’s economy is particularly tied into Russia’s economy. At the beginning of the year, Armenia also joined the Kremlin-lead Eurasian Economic Union which many see as a Moscow inspired political union.

Inflation in Russia has hit around 12% and is still rising. Economists said this would undoubtedly push the price of goods in Armenia up too.

Before the Central Bank raised interest rates in December, the Armenia’s interest rate had stood at 6.75%.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 218, published on Feb. 11 2015)

Kazakh gold/FX reserves increase

FEB. 6 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s net gold and foreign currency reserves increased to $28.2b in January from $28b in December and $24b from a year earlier, highlighting its ability to fight downward pressure on its tenge currency. Kazakhs worry about another devaluation.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 218, published on Feb. 11 2015)

Tajik doctor released in Yemen

FEB. 10 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tribesmen in Yemen have released a Tajik doctor they kidnapped in October, media reported. Gulrukhsor Rofieyva, 36, was working for a Russian company when she was kidnapped. It’s unclear why her captors released her but they had demanded the release of tribesmen held by the government.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 218, published on Feb. 11 2015)

New pipeline contract at Kashagan

FEB. 9 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Italian oil service company Saipem has won a $1.8b contract to replace leaky pipes at the Kashagan oil field in the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea, media reported. It said the new pipes would be in place by the end of 2016, allowing oil to flow from Kashagan by the start of 2017.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 218, published on Feb. 11 2015)

Putin ratifies alliance with Abkhazia

FEB. 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russian president Vladimir Putin ratified Russia’s alliance with Abkhazia, a Georgian rebel region. The strategic alliance, which has been criticised by Georgia, means Russia will likely send more military kit to Abkhazia.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 218, published on Feb. 11 2015)

Kyrgyzstan detains Uzbeks on border

FEB. 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan detained four Uzbek nationals on their shared border, media reported. Relations between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan have been strained over the last few years by rows over border rights and hydro-electric dams. The rows have the potential to destabilise the region.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 218, published on Feb. 11 2015)

EBRD AGM heading to Georgia

FEB. 10 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has agreed to hold its AGM in Tbilisi in 2015. This will be the EBRD’s 24th AGM and the first to be held in the South Caucasus. For Georgia, the EBRD’s AGM gives it an opportunity to showcase Tbilisi.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 218, published on Feb. 11 2015)

NATO base in Georgia is provocative -Russia

FEB. 6 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russia described NATO’s move to open a training base in Georgia as a provocation. NATO intends to open the base this year. Alexander Grushko, Russia’s envoy to NATO, said: “Emergence of NATO military facilities in Georgia is a step towards escalation of tension and worsening of regional security.”
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 218, published on Feb. 11 2015)

EBRD increases funds in Tajikistan

FEB. 10 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — In a boost for business in Tajikistan, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has agreed a $5m loan to AccessBank which specialises in lending to smaller companies, media reported. AccessBank was set up in 2010 by international lenders.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 218, published on Feb. 11 2015)

Kyrgyzstan starts anti-IS drive

>>US-backed website promotes drive to counter radical Islam>>

FEB. 11 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan has stepped up a programme in the south of the country to counter propaganda from Islamic extremists.

The website centralasiaonline.com, which has links to the US government, quoted NGO workers and people in southern Kyrygzstan explaining how the government had started a series of courses to pull potentially vulnerable people away from online material distributed by the IS extremist group.

“Young people encounter dubious information online and fall prey to the negative influence of recruiters, who lure our brothers and sons to hot spots,” the website quoted one woman who lived near Osh, the main city in the region.

Centralasiaonline.com has a clear pro-Western agenda but its report matches other media reports which have described how the Kyrgyz government is trying to counter IS recruitment ambitions in Central Asia.

IS has identified Central Asia as a particularly fertile recruitment ground because of high levels of dissatisfaction among young Muslim men.

The centralasiaonline.com report said the government had hosted six workshops for 250 people over the past couple of months.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 218, published on Feb. 11 2015)