SEPT. 15 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Campaigning officially began in Uzbekistan for an election to its 150-seat parliament set for Dec. 21, media reported.The election is largely a formality as all the parties are pro- presidential. Uzbekistan has been described as one of the most repressive and least democratic countries in the world.
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(News report from Issue No. 200, published on Sept.17 2014)
CHOLPON-ATA/Kyrgyzstan, SEPT. 17 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — In front of a packed hippodrome in this provincial town of shores of the mountain-ringed Lake Issyk Kul, Kyrgyzstan A beat Kyrgyzstan B to win gold in the main event of Kok-Boru at this inaugural Nomadic Games.
Amid the enthusiastic roars of local Kyrgyz, foreign diplomats cheered on half-heartedly between snipes about graft and the hippodrome’s overloaded portaloos.
While the World Nomadic Games was designed to unite all countries of the Turkic-speaking world, it retained a very local flavour throughout, with the hosts cruising to victory in the medal table — the majority of the competitors were Kyrgyz — and poor planning abounding. None of the presidents of the competing states — Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan — showed up as hoped before the games began.
The Kok-Boru on July 14 was spectacular, however. Exhibition games of Kok-Boru, a polo-like game played with a dried goat carcass, are common at tourist-focussed festivals throughout the country. This one was far more competitive, with the captain of Kyrgyzstan’s A team sporting a battle-inflicted gash across his forehead as he lead his team to victory over the B team.
Russia’s federal Altai Republic and Turkey claimed silver and bronze in the event respectively. Following a reported disagreement over the rules of Kok-Boru — or Kokpar to the Kazakhs — neighbouring Kazakhstan refused to send a team.
Also on Sept. 14, to the chuckles of local spectators, horses belonging to former Prime Minister Omurbek Babanov claimed the bronze and silver medals for the 2.5 km flat race. Babanov’s weakness for stallions is legendary.
He was jettisoned from the government amid rumours he had accepted a racehorse a bribe for securing a foreign investment for a Turkish businessmen in 2013.
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(News report from Issue No. 200, published on Sept.17 2014)
SEPT. 15 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – At a meeting in Ashgabat, the Turkmen and Iranian defence ministers, declared that they would boost cooperation between the two countries. Perhaps most important when considering Turkmenistan-Iran military cooperation is the issue of the Caspian Sea which they border.
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(News report from Issue No. 200, published on Sept.16 2014)
SEPT. 16 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Energy tariffs will rise in Kyrgyzstan, but only for certain users, the country’s energy minister told parliament.
Kyrgyzstan’s electricity, at $0.1 per Killowatt/hour (kw/h), is cheaper than the cost of its production and 1-1/2 times cheaper than in Tajikistan, the former Soviet country with the next cheapest electricity.
But government’s attempts to explain this fall on deaf ears. Ex-president Kurmanbek Bakiyev was ejected from power in 2010 following substantial energy hikes that were subsequently reversed by the interim government that took power.
The current increases, target users of three-phase- systems that are used to heat private houses. They will pay 0.02 USD per kilowatt/hour.
These targeted increases will not provide the funds required to repair a failing grid, and will be insufficient to prevent scheduled electricity shutoffs during the heating season this winter. The Toktogul reservoir, that feeds a Hydroelectric plant powering most of the country is at its lowest level since the Bakiyev period.
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(News report from Issue No. 200, published on Sept.17 2014)
SEPT. 11 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s state energy company SOCAR is expected to complete the deal to buy the Greek state gas operator DESFA by the end of this month, SOCAR head Rovnag Abdullayev said. SOCAR agreed to buy a 66% stake in DESFA in 2013. The EU is currently considering it.
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(News report from Issue No. 200, published on Sept.17 2014)
SEPT. 17 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – A United Nations team sent to Azerbaijan to investigate allegations of torture in state jails cut short its trip after it said Azerbaijani officials blocked access to sites. Azerbaijan has come under pressure over alleged human rights abuses.
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(News report from Issue No. 201, published on Sept. 24 2014)
SEPT. 8 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Plans to increase the amount of capital held by Kazakh banks won’t solve all its structural weaknesses, the Standard & Poor’s ratings agency said in a new report.
The Kazakh Central Bank has been trying to work out just how to improve its banking system ever since the global financial crisis of 2008/9 toppled three of the biggest banks. Only government takeovers saved the Kazakh banking system. Most recently the Central Bank said that from Jan. 1 2019, banks would have to hold a minimum of 100b tenge (roughly $550m), a ten-fold increase from the current requirements.
But although the increase in capitalisation requirements may force various mergers in the system and rid it of the smaller, more fragile, banks, the Kazakh Central Bank also needs to address serious structural weaknesses, Standards & Poors said.
“Although consolidation could create opportunities for the Kazakh banking sector over the long term, the system’s major weaknesses–the lenient banking regulation and supervision, banks’ aggressive risk management practices, and sometimes deficient corporate governance procedures are very likely to remain,” the report said.
And the move may even backfire.
“Furthermore, the resulting higher barriers to entry could lower the sector’s attractiveness to foreign investors,” Stand & Poors said.
There are currently 38 banks in Kazakhstan. Of these, 35, it has been estimated, would fail a move to a capitalisation of 100b tenge.
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(News report from Issue No. 199, published on Sept. 10 2014)
SEPT. 9 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s Central Bank said that it would ban domestic banks from keeping most of its cash overseas from next year.
The announcement is another move aimed at strengthening the local banking sector.
Kairat Kelimbetov, the Central Bank chief, said that banks currently kept most of their assets in foreign currency, undermining the tenge.
“We have taken appropriate action. Firstly, limiting the ability to work with derivative financial instruments at 30 per cent on the balance. Roughly speaking, not allowing to play with currency derivatives,” he said, according to the media.
One of the biggest challenges facing the Kazakh Central Bank currently is trying to stop a slide in the value of the tenge. It has already had to devalue the national currency by 20% earlier this year and has come under sustained pressure to devalue again.
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(News report from Issue No. 199, published on Sept. 10 2014)
SEPT. 10 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – South African parliamentarians have questioned why its government sold 50 sniper rifles to Turkmenistan earlier this year, media reported. Democratic Alliance MP David Maynier reportedly quoted from a Human Rights Watch report calling Turkmenistan one of the most repressive countries in the world.
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(News report from Issue No. 199, published on Sept. 10 2014)
SEPT. 8 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The price of gas in north Kyrgyzstan will drop by up to 40% because of extra supplies, the head of Gazprom, now owners of Kyrgyzgaz, Alexei Miller said according to media. Although Mr Millar’s comments will be welcomed in the north, caution should be added. The dangerous north-south divide in Kyrgystan may be increasing.
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(News report from Issue No. 199, published on Sept. 10 2014)