Category Archives: Uncategorised

Kazakhstan increases banking capital levels

APRIL 29 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan is going to introduce a minimum capital banking requirement that will probably whittle down the number of banks in the country.

The head of the Kazakh Central Bank, Kairat Kelimbetov, said that to meet requirements laid out in Basel-III, a set of banking benchmarks drawn up after the global financial crisis of 2008/9, banks in Kazakhstan would have to increase their capital to 100b tenge ($550m) by 2019. T

his new requirement, analysts have since said, will cut the number of banks in Kazakhstan to roughly 15 to 20, from the current 38.

For Kazakhstan’s Central Bank this is undoubtedly a positive. It takes the view that the Kazakh banking sector needs to be reformed. There are currently too many banks and too many banks with large bad loan portfolios.

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(News report from Issue No. 182, published on April 30 2014)

West criticises purge in Azerbaijan

APRIL 29 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — International human rights groups, the EU and the United States have all criticised Azerbaijan for its clampdown on opposition journalists and activists.

The Azerbaijani authorities appear to be intensifying their purge of anti-government activists.

On April 28, security personnel at Baku airport stopped prominent human rights activist Leyla Yunus and her husband Arif Yunus from flying to Doha. Media reported that they had been told they were not allowed to leave the country and held them for several hours.

This followed the extradition from Turkey and arrest at Baku airport of Rafiq Mirqadirov, a well-known writer, on allegations that he spied for arch-enemy Armenia.

In Washington a US State Department spokesperson said that she was disturbed by Mr Mirqadirov’s arrest. The European Commissioner for Human Rights, Nils Miusnieks, had a similar message for Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

The authorities in Azerbaijani have been on a determined drive to purge the country of their enemies. Other than paranoia, it’s unclear, though, what is driving this purge. The opposition in Azerbaijan is disorganised, under-funded and under-supported. They don’t really hold much threat to the status quo.

One consequence of the crackdown has been to anger Azerbaijan’s Western allies. The crackdown tallies more with Russia’s mindset then with the West. The problem for Azerbaijan is that it has re-aligned its foreign policy away from Russia towards the West.

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(News report from Issue No. 182, published on April 30 2014)

Iran, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan sign rail deal

APRIL 28 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan signed agreements with their Iranian counterparts that will extend rail cooperation between the countries, media reported. Central Asian countries have been signing deals with Iran to extend a trade route to the Persian Gulf.

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(News report from Issue No. 182, published on April 30 2014)

Kazakhstan boosts grain exports to Iran and China

APRIL 23 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan will boost exports of grain to Iran and China as it looks to reduce its reliance on Ukrainian and Russian ports, Reuters reported quoting the Kazakh grain trading company. The switch is a possible reaction to the turmoil in Ukraine and sanctions on Russia.

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(News report from Issue No. 182, published on April 30 2014)

New car sales rise in Kazakhstan

APRIL 24 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — New car sales in Kazakhstan increased to nearly 35,000 in the first three months of 2014, a 25% increase on the same period in 2013, an industry lobby group reported. Nearly 80% of the new car sales were imports, suggesting that a 20% devaluation of the tenge in February hasn’t dented Kazakh consumer confidence.

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(News report from Issue No. 182, published on April 30 2014)

Greek police arrests Georgian ex-minister

APRIL 27 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Police in Greece arrested Data Akhalaia, the former head of Georgia’s intelligence agency, when he tried to cross the border into Italy on a fake passport one month ago, media reported. Mr Akhalaia is wanted in Georgia for involvement in a murder in 2006.

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(News report from Issue No. 182, published on April 30 2014)

Turkish leader appeases Armenia

APRIL 29 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — It may not have been the full admission of guilt that many people in Armenia want, but Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s statement on the death of thousands of Armenians in 1915 broke new ground.

Turkey’s leaders have always denied accusations of genocide against Armenians living in the east of the country when the Ottoman Empire started to break up.

But on this occasion, Mr Erdogan’s comments were seen as unusually conciliatory.

“Having experienced events which had inhumane consequences, such as relocation, during the First World War, should not prevent Turks and Armenians from establishing compassion and mutually humane attitudes towards one another,” media quoted Mr Erdogan as saying.

His reference to relocation was to the forced deportation of millions of Armenians from their homeland around Van.

Although some pressure groups in Armenia dismissed Mr Erdogan’s statement as politicking others were more accepting. The importance for Armenia cannot be understated.

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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 182, published on April 30 2014)

EU could extend Azerbaijani pipelines

APRIL 28 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The European Union is considering extending the proposed TANAP-TAP gas pipeline from Azerbaijan from its current endpoint in Italy to France and Spain, the Russian newspaper Vedomosti reported quoting a European Commission official. TANAP-TAP is supposed to be completed by 2019.

(News report from Issue No. 182, published on April 30 2014)

Kyrgyzstan raises utility tariffs

APRIL 28 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — July 1 will see costs for electricity, heating and hot water rise for residents of Kyrgyzstan, the ministry of energy said.

The last time the Kyrgyz authorities introduced a major utilities hike was at the start of 2010. A few months later, a violent revolution had overthrown Kurmanbek Bakiyev. Mr Bakiyev’s administration was famous for rolling blackouts and heating shortages as harsh winters and corruption took their toll on the national energy grid.

This time, the government headed by new PM Joomart Ortobayev is proceeding more carefully, staggering prices for energy relative to consumption. Heavy users of electricity will be charged triple the current prices by 2017 but the more economically vulnerable users who use lower levels of electricity will be charged only 22.5% more. Heating and hot water costs are similarly tailored.

Kyrgyz energy utilities remain among the cheapest in the world, but in the context of a struggling economy, some are feeling squeezed and the increases are a risk for Mr Ortobayev who has been Kyrgyzstan’s PM for only a few weeks.

Elena Jdanova, a Bishkek pet store owner, thought that small businesses and the middle class are picking up the tab for poor energy policies.

“Every year the government accuses [citizens] of overconsumption, when we know energy is still being stolen by officials. I have over 130 animals that need constant light and heat. These increases will ruin me,” she said.

Kyrgyzstan’s opposition is likely to use the utilities price increase to whip up support but, long-term, the government had little alternative to reducing the subsidies.

(News report from Issue No. 182, published on April 30 2014)

Turkmenistan orders more Boeings

APRIL 22 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Turkmen government has ordered another batch of Boeing passenger planes, media reported. Turkmenistan Airlines is modernising and, according to earlier reports, bought three long-range Boeing 777-200. The latest order is for three more Boeing 737-800.

(News report from Issue No. 181, published on April 23 2014)