Category Archives: Uncategorised

Economic boom in Georgia

AUG. 29 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – For the full year to end-July, its grew by 7.2%, a rise from 6.2% for the 12 months to the end of June, Georgia’s statistics agency said.

This growth far outstrips other countries in Central Asia and the South Caucasus. Georgia is less reliant on Russia’s economy, which has been faltering on sanctions imposed on it since fighting broke out in Ukraine.

Instead, Georgia is increasingly looking to the European Union for economic growth. This month it will receive another boost when its accession into a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area with the EU comes into force. This will give it products — especially agriculture products, wine and water — a boost in Europe.

To coincide with this, Moody’s the ratings agency increased Georgia’s outlook to one notch below investment grade.

“We hope to see new businesses oriented on exporting their goods to the EU market and this, in turn, will lead to the diversification and growth of exports,” Mikheil Janelidze, deputy minister for the economy and sustainable development, told eurasiaNet.org.

In comparison, Armenia’s economy is faltering because of its over-reliance on Russia. Officials there are beginning to sound increasingly worried, also, about its impending admission to the Russia-led Customs Union.

In Central Asia, too, economies are under increasing pressure because of their over reliance on Russia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 198, published on Sept. 3 2014)

Kyrgyzstan prepares CU laws

AUG. 29 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyz PM Djoomart Otorbayev approved a long list of bills and laws to be passed through parliament in order for Kyrgyzstan to become a member of the Russia-led Customs Union this year. The list is further evidence that Kyrgyzstan is committed to joining the group.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 198, published on Sept. 3 2014)

Kyrgyz nation-building film aims for Oscars

SEPT. 1 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – On Independence Day, people in Bishkek crammed into cinemas to watch a film geared towards nation-building.

The film’s organisers think the film has a shot at the Best Foreign Film Category at the Oscars. Kurmandjan Datka, Queen of the Mountains received $1.5m from the threadbare republican budget and was part-organised by nationalist MP, Zhyldyz Zholdosheva.

The Kyrgyz-language picture, telling the story of a female clan ruler during the time of the Russian empire, was generally well received, although one viewer, 21-year old Maxat Dukenbayev, said it was some way short of Nomad, a Kazakh state-made epic with 25 times Kurmanjan Datka’s budget and featuring B-List Hollywood actors.

“That didn’t come close to an Oscar,” he said, standing outside Bishkek’s October Cinema.

Not that Nomad did either.

Still, Zholdosheva, who gained a reputation as an outspoken nationalist in the aftermath of ethnic violence between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in 2010 declared herself ready to win an Oscar.

Elsewhere, on a grassy stretch outside Bishkek’s Panfilov Park, scores of Kyrgyz families grilled skewered kebabs and took in national beer.

Kyrgyz films celebrating its independence, seemingly, are not for everyone.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 198, published on Sept. 3 2014)

Petrol supplies fall in Uzbekistan

AUG. 28 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Petrol stations across Uzbekistan are closing because of a lack of fuel supplies, media reported. Media has been reporting for some time that fuel supplies in Uzbekistan have been low. The government has also said that it is no longer able to subsidise petrol causing prices to rise, especially around Tashkent.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 198, published on Sept. 3 2014)

Economy slides in Armenia

SEPT. 1 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia’s economy grew by only 2.3% in the second quarter of this year compared to a year earlier, the national statistics agency reported.

The low growth underscores concerns about the Armenian economy. In August, the Central Bank cut its full year growth forecast to between 3.6% and 4.2% from 4.1% and 4.8% because of the impact of sanctions on Russia’s economy. The health of the Russian economy is vital to Armenia.

Other international economic organisations have followed and warned that economic growth in 2014 will be lower than growth in 2013.

This is, of course, worrying for Armenian officials who are looking to boost the economy. The danger for Armenia is that it’s trapped in having to follow Russia.

Armenia is surrounded by enemies, mainly Turkey and Azerbaijan, and looks to Russia for support but with the Russian economy increasingly fragile because of sanctions this is dangerous.

And Armenia appears destined to join the Russia-led Customs Union later this year. These are definitely difficult times for Armenia’s policymakers.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 198, published on Sept. 3 2014)

TI having funding problems in Azerbaijan

AUG. 27 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Anti-corruption lobby group Transparency International (TI) said it is having problems receiving funding from USAID, the US government aid agency, through an Azerbaijani bank, media reported. TI has been critical of corruption in Azerbaijan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 198, published on Sept. 3 2014)

Uzbekistan wants migrants to return

SEPT 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Regions across Uzbekistan have started work on a government edict to try and lure the thousands of Uzbeks working abroad back home, even though the economy is looking decidedly dodgy and the chances of full time employment are low.

Uznews.net, an Uzbek opposition website, reported that Samarkand, the second largest city in the country, has proposed all migrants who return will get given a job.

“I witnessed people like myself being forced to live a nomadic life in dirty conditions, without rights in a foreign land,” the website reported one Samarkand resident as saying in a propaganda drive.

“If we were to work as hard at home as we work in Russia, we would make good money.”

The drive to persuade migrants to return to Uzbekistan apparently came in July from Uzbek PM Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

It also coincided with news that Russia was going to make it more difficult for migrants to enter and also that the sanctions imposed on Russia since fighting in Ukraine started has reduced demand for casual migrant workers. This may have dampened demand for migrants from Central Asia who would typically do the cleaning and building jobs around Moscow and other large Russian cities.

Even so, Uzbekistan relies heavily on remittances from workers based in Russia and working on a campaign to encourage them back home is likely to be counter- productive.

Uzbekistan has plenty of infrastructure of its own to deal with, including crumbling road, rail and power networks, so, possibly, calling on more people to move back to Uzbekistan is counter productive.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 198, published on Sept. 3 2014)

Georgian parliament moves to Tbilisi

SEPT. 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Less than two years after the government of Mikheil Saakashvili moved Georgia’s parliament from the centre of Tbilisi to a new-built glass dome in Kutaisi, 225km away, it is moving back. Parliament held its first session after the summer recess in Tbilis. The two parliaments will now split meetings.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 198, published on Sept. 3 2014)

Inflation climbs in Kazakhstan

SEPT. 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Inflation in Kazakhstan edged up to 7.1% for the year to end-August, the top of the Central Bank’s bandwidth. The Central Bank aims to keep inflation between 6% and 8%. Central Asia’s economies have been under pressure from the sanctions on Russia. Inflation increased by 0.4% in August.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 198, published on Sept. 3 2014)

Uzbek President dances

SEPT.1 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Perhaps to prove his virility and good health, Uzbek president Islam Karimov danced with various other officials in public on Independence Day. The 76-year-old Mr Karimov has been the centre of much speculation over his health during the last few years.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 198, published on Sept. 3 2014)