Tag Archives: Armenia

Armenian taxi associations accuse Yandex

JUNE 23 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenian taxi associations have accused Yandex Taxi of market dumping practices as the Russian search-engine owned company tries to enter the local market. Yandex Taxi will start operations in Armenia on July 1 and has set prices that appear to be half the average rate of 500dram ($1) per 5km. The new taxi service will function through an online app. This month Uber started operations in Astana.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 286, published on June 24 2016)

Armenia to export electricity to Iran

JUNE 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia’s state-owned power distributor Electro Power Systems Operator said it will export around 1b kWh of electricity to Iran in 2016 from itsHradzan and Yerevan thermal power plants. Armenia and Iran have signed an agreement on the exchange of Iranian gas for Armenia’s electricity.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 286, published on June 24 2016)

Business comment: BREXIT, Oil & Crisis

JUNE 24 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – As the results of the referendum on Britain’s EU membership came in early on Friday, the decision to leave the EU has shaken the global market.

The Leave vote has hit the London stock market, where most of the companies focusing on Central Asia and the South Caucasus are listed. Economists now expect more volatility in the short term for the London Stock Exchange.

The so-called Brexit also negatively affected oil prices, sending both Brent and WTI down by 6% in just a few hours. Analysts have said that the period of uncertainty regarding oil prices will now last longer.

Currency markets were also hit, as the British pound lost value against the US dollar, effectively strengthening the greenback.

This had an immediate domino effect on currencies across Central Asia and the South Caucasus, where local currencies weakened against the US dollar.

The increasing uncertainty and volatility is now poised to harm, at least in the short term, local markets in the region, prompting elites in from Tbilisi to Astana to brace for more tough times. It will also hit global markets in general, forcing investors to flee to safety and this means missing out Central Asia and the South Caucasus.

Now both the Fed in the US and the Bank of England will have to revise their economic policies and this is likely to insulate further their economies and pull investment back from Emerging Markets.

In these uncertain times, countries in Central Asia and the South Caucasus cannot but hope that Western investors will go against the tide and continue investing in the region.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 286, published on June 24 2016)

OSCE to monitor contact line between Azerbaijan and Armenia

JUNE 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – At a meeting in St Petersburg hosted by Russian president Vladimir Putin, Armenian leader Serzh Sargsyan and Azerbiajani leader Ilham Aliyev agreed to continue discussions reaching a permanent peace deal over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

They also said that an OSCE mission would be sent to the region to monitor the contact line between the two sides.

The Organisation of Security and Cooperation in Europe is Europe’s democracy watchdog and conflict resolution group. Its involvement in the disputed region of Nagorno-Ka- Karabakh, which suffered its worst outbreak of fighting in April since a UN-brokered peace deal in 1994, is considered vital.

“The OSCE [will] monitor the line of engagement between the Armenian and Azerbaijani troops near the village of Agdam in Azerbaijan’s Tovuz district on June 22,” Azerbaijan’s defence ministry said in a note following the meeting.

The fighting in April between Azerbaijan’s army and Armenia-backed forces killed several dozen people and looked at one time that it would drag in neighbouring countries and spread.

The two presidents had previously met in Vienna in mid-May. After the St. Petersburg meeting they are likely to schedule another summit to evaluate the progress made in Nagorno- Karabakh. Analysts have said that continued meetings between the two leaders is important.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 286, published on June 24 2016)

IMF approves loans for Kyrgyzstan and Armenia

JUNE 16/17 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The IMF approved two loans to Armenia and Kyrgyzstan, part of a three-year plan to support macroeconomic reforms. It loaned $22m to Armenia, where it supported a controversial tax reform that received a first parliamentary approval on June 15. The IMF also gave a $13m loan to Kyrgyzstan and lauded the government’s measures to boost tax revenues and cut spending.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 286, published on June 24 2016)

Armenians criticise tax revamp

JUNE 22 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Political and institutional figures have harshly criticised a new tax code that parliament approved last week during the first reading of the bill. Mans Tandilyan, a high-ranking member of the Lusavor Hayastan party, said the new code will negatively affect small and medium businesses. Tigran Jrbashyan, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Armenia, warned that, if passed, the law would send Armenia into a recession. The new tax law, approved on June 15, will increase excise taxes on fuel, tobacco and alcohol and increase income tax.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 286, published on June 24 2016)

EEU plans single electricity market, say energy ministers after meeting in Tajikistan

JUNE 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Eurasian Economic Union, a trade bloc led by Russia but also involving Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia plans to set up a unified electricity market by 2019, EEU members’ energy ministers said after a meeting in Dushanbe. Tajikistan aspires to be part of the EEU, which critics have said is a Kremlin project to extend its control.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)

Turkmenistan becomes deputy chairman of UN General Assembly

JUNE 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The UN General Assembly unanimously voted to give Turkmenistan one of the 19 vice-chairs for its 71st session, due to start next September, a PR coup for Turkmenistan’s neutrality policy.

Turkmenistan had already served as vice-chair of the General Assembly in 2007, 2009, and 2013 and it was quick to laud the move as an accolade.

“This is a testament to the international prestige of the Turkmen state, the effectiveness of its foreign policy based on the principles of positive neutrality,” it said on one of its official news websites.

The country’s official neutral policy, though, may be weakening. Security worries in Afghanistan have pushed Turkmenistan. Its army organised a massive military exercise in March, the largest in Turkmenistan’s history.

A representative of Armenia was also elected to serve a deputy chair of the General Assembly.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)

Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders to talk N-K

JUNE 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan and Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev will meet for talks on the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh in St Petersburg on June 20, a Kremlin spokesman said. Russian president Vladimir Putin will also host the talks. His presence increases the chances that a meaningful deal may be drawn up.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)

Petrol prices fall in Armenia

JUNE 3 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Armenian Statistics Committee said that average petrol prices fell by 1.8% in April compared to the previous month and by 12% compared to the same period in 2015, a sign that deflation pressures have picked up pace. Prices fell marginally across sectors in Armenia in April.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 284, published on June 10 2016)