JAN. 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan accused Armenia of launching a raid across its borders, another escalation of tension between the two neighbours over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The two sides disagreed on the number of casualties.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 216, published on Jan. 28 2015)
JAN. 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Nurlan Smagulov, head of the Astana Motors car dealer and an influential businessman, stepped into the debate over the Kazakh tenge. At a press conference, he said policymakers should not devalue the currency for the second time as this would undermine its credibility and knock consumer spending.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 216, published on Jan. 28 2015)
JAN. 27 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Washington-based Heritage Foundation said that weak rule of law in Kazakhstan had supressed its position in its global rankings on economic freedom. In this year’s ranking, Kazakhstan dropped six places to 69th in the list of 178 countries.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 216, published on Jan. 28 2015)
JAN. 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Air Astana CEO Peter Foster
said 2015 would be a tough year because of economic and political
turmoil across the region. His comments highlight the uncertainty
that businesses are facing. Last year, Air Astana increased its
passenger traffic by 3%. Profit rose by 35% from 2013, mainly
because of a drop in oil price.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 215, published on Jan. 21 2015)
JAN. 17 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — An anonymous whistle-blower in Norway has alleged corruption at Vimpelcom, a telecoms company a third owned by Norwegian Telenor, media reported. Telenor and Vimpelcom deny the allegations. Uzbekistan’s telecoms sector is already mired in an alleged corruption case.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 215, published on Jan. 21 2015)
>>Ukraine’s government has taken on a very Georgian face>>
JAN. 14 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — A third former Georgian minister has signed up to work for the anti-Russian government in Ukraine. This time Gia Getsadze, who held various high ranking positions under former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili, is to become Ukraine’s deputy justice minister, media reported.
Mr Getsadze follows Georgia’s former healthcare minister Alexander Kvitashvili and former deputy interior minister Eka Zguladze to Kiev.
And this is important. Georgia’s relations with Russia have much improved since Mr Saakashvili left office in 2013 but these ties are still fragile.
What Georgia wants to avoid is the relatively new government in Kiev appearing heavily populated by Georgians. If it does, relations between Georgia and Russia could be damaged once again.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 215, published on Jan. 21 2015)
JAN. 15 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s government plans to sell the tallest building in the port of Batumi — a slender 35-storey white tower with a golden ferris wheel in one side. The tower had been earmarked as part of a new university and was seen as prestige project for the previous government of President Mikheil Saakashvili.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 215, published on Jan. 21 2015)
>>Presidential election set for March 29 in Uzbekistan>>
JAN. 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The clue was in the headline. A pro-government news outlet in Uzbekistan, they are all pro-government, ran a story under the headline: “Incumbent President Islam Karimov’s re-election scheduled”.
Nothing, it seems, could be more certain. Mr Karimov has already ruled over Uzbekistan for 25 years, despite constitutional articles that bans one person from holding the post for more than two consecutive terms.
Few people expect any surprises from this campaign and it appears that it suits the United States, Russia and China to keep the status quo. The only two other candidates cleared to run in the election by the Uzbek Central Election Committee are avowed supporters of Mr Karimov.
Importantly, also, there is little mention of Gulnara Karimova, Mr Karimova’s eldest daughter. She had been talked of as a successor to her father but has fallen from grace over the past 18 months or so. She remains under house arrest and many of her associates are in prison.
Uzbekistan’s up and coming presidential election, set for March 29, will be marked by its trademark lack of any real competition.
A seasoned Uzbekistan watcher also said that Uzbeks are apathetic about the prospect of another Karimov term in office.
“People, you know, are apathetic,” he said. “I don’t expect any surprises.”
Mr Karimov has been in power in Uzbekistan since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. It’s inconceivable that he won’t win March’s election again.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 215, published on Jan. 21 2015)
JAN. 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — In new 2015 predictions, the
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said
Kazakhstan would grow by 1.5% this year, a sharp drop from the 5.1%
predicted in September. The EBRD downscaled Kazakhstan’s growth
estimates because of ongoing rouble and oil price falls.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 215, published on Jan. 21 2015)
>>Nazarbayev summons his chief economic lieutenant for talks>>
JAN. 16 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakh president Nursultan
Nazarbayev summoned the head of Samruk Kazyna, the country’s
sovereign wealth fund, for crisis talks over the falling price of
oil and the drop in the value of the Russian rouble.
The meeting highlights just how worried Mr Nazarbayev and his
senior ministers are about the recent economic downturn. Most major
financial institutions now expect the Kazakh economy to grow by
only 1.5% this year, a relatively small amount.
When Mr Nazarbayev announced last year a new economic policy, he
aimed to enter the New Year with a Keynesian industrial programme
that would have injected billions into construction projects and
subsidies.
Currency depreciations and oil markets, however, have shattered the
plan.
After his meeting with Mr Nazarbayev, Umirzak Shukeyev, the Samruk
Kazyna chief, said: “The goal is to reduce administrative costs by
20% and investment engagements by 18%.”
This, then, is the opposite of what had been promised.
The most feared buzzwords on the streets from Almaty to Atyrau are
devaluation and austerity. Several consulting and investment firms
have forecast a devaluation in the first quarter. The research
branch of Kazakhstan’s second largest lender, Halyk Bank, told
Bloomberg that they deem a depreciation of the tenge as inevitable.
The leader of the National Business Association, Rakhim Oshakbayev
publicly asked the government to protect private companies from the
risk of devaluation (Jan. 20).
In Kazakhstan, the government is expected to act to reverse the
economic downturn but with no significant increase in hydrocarbon
and commodity output, its only option is to dig into the reserves
of the sovereign fund and hope for the best, or so it often seems.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 215, published on Jan. 21 2015)