Category Archives: Uncategorised

IMF assesses Kazakh economy

MAY 7 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Kazakh Central Bank should relax its monetary policy and allow the tenge to appreciate, media quoted the IMF as saying after a field trip to Kazakhstan.

It said that the tenge was now undervalued and that the narrow band that the Central Bank anchors the currency in should be widened.

In February, the Kazakh Central Bank suddenly cut the value of the tenge by 20%, a move the IMF said could trigger inflationary pressure.

The assessment is hardly a ringing endorsement of the Kazakh Central Bank and its policies.

It appears that Kazakh consumers, also, agree with the IMF. Fresh data showed that since December the amount of savings held in US dollars has increased by around a third. People are clearly nervous of the tenge.

The IMF also highlighted a much talked about weakness in the Kazakh economy; the high proportion of non-performing loans. Roughly a third of all loans are considered non- performing and this, the IMF said, had to be cut.

A senior manager in the currency sector in Almaty said that both relaxing the band that the tenge was held in and cutting the proportion of non-performing loans was wishful thinking by the IMF.

“Such a decision would mean creating panic in the society,” he said on condition of anonymity of the IMF’s proposal to relax the currency band.

“The government wants the opposite. Everything has to be calm and quiet. Increasing the range would enhance speculative moves in the currency market.”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 184, published on May 14 2014)

Russia sanctions could hurt Kazakhstan

MAY 13 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kairat Kelimbetov, head of the Kazakh Central Bank, said he was concerned about the negative impact on Kazakhstan’s economy of sanctions on Russia. Mr Kelimbetov said 7% of Kazakhstan’s exports went to Russia and 36% of its imports came from Russia. Remittances are also important.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 184, published on May 14 2014)

Momentum building for Georgia’s NATO entry

MAY 8 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Momentum appears to be building for Georgia’s NATO entry, or at least a move in that direction.

William Hague, the British foreign minister, visited Tbilisi and spoke of his support for “Georgia’s Euro- Atlantic trajectory, for its territorial integrity and for its democratic process”. His visit was part of a trip to Ukraine and Moldova too and followed trips from the French and German foreign ministers to Tbilisi.

In 2008, at a summit in Bucharest, NATO said that one day Georgia would be a NATO member. What it didn’t say, though, was when.

Since then, Georgia has been waiting for it membership card. It has supported various NATO initiatives, including the war in Afghanistan. It had hoped that perhaps a summit in Wales later this year may be the entry point, although that notion has been dashed by various NATO officials.

At the same time as Mr Hague was in Tbilisi, Georgia’s defence foreign minister, Irakli Alasania, was in Washington visiting the US defence secretary Chuck Hagel.

And if that wasn’t enough Western diplomatic handshaking, French President Francois Hollande turned up on May 13 on the final stop of his tour of the South Caucasus. Again, Georgia’s potential integration topped the agenda.

Despite some reservations by some NATO members, the crisis in Ukraine appears to have created a real opportunity for Georgia. If Georgia can maintain the forward momentum it has generated over the past couple of weeks, NATO membership may not be far off.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 184, published on May 14 2014)

South Ossetia detains Georgians

MAY 12 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The authorities in the Georgian breakaway region of South Ossetia are detaining 13 Georgian citizens, media reported. Reports said five Georgians were released after paying a fine for apparently straying illegally into South Ossetia. In 2008, Georgia and Russia fought a brief war over the region.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 184, published on May 14 2014)

Floods hit south Tajikistan

MAY 7 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Floods have heavily damaged parts of southern Tajikistan, along the border with Afghanistan, media reported. The Afghan side has been far worse effected with reports saying that a mudslide hit a village killing several hundred people. In Tajikistan, reports said that hundreds of families in remote villages had been cut off.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 184, published on May 14 2014)

Name vanishes from Azerbaijani football shirt

MAY 9 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The day after Atletico Madrid beat London-based Chelsea in the UEFA Champions League semi-final Iranian newspaper Jam-e Jam published photos of the victorious team but with Azerbaijan, the team sponsor, edited out of the front of their shirts, BBC reported.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 184, published on May 14 2014)

Iran looks to Turkmenistan for oil well access

MAY 11 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Iranian government-linked North Drilling Company is in talks with Turkmen officials to establish an oil well in Turkmenistan, media reported quoting a company director. Iran and Turkmenistan have generated increasingly close ties over the past few years.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 184, published on May 14 2014)

South Kyrgyzstan survives without gas

MAY 8 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan said that Uzbekistan was still restricting gas supplies to its southern city of Osh. Osh has reportedly been without gas for a few weeks, generating some social tension. Uzbekistan’s Soviet era gas system supplies southern Kyrgyzstan with gas. Relations between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan are strained.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 184, published on May 14 2014)

Turkmenistan to export power to Afghanistan

MAY 10 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan has started work on a thermal power plant that will provide power to the south of the country as well as exporting electricity to neighbouring Afghanistan, media reported. The West has been urging Turkmenistan, which is relatively stable and wealthy, to play an increased role in Afghanistan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 184, published on May 14 2014)

France’s Hollande visits Armenia

MAY 12 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – On a trip around the South Caucasus, French President Francois Hollande visited Yerevan where he met Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan. He visited the construction site of the long-delayed Carrefour supermarket and called on the EU to engage with Armenia despite its proposed accession to the Russia-led Customs Union.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 184, published on May 14 2014)