OCT. 29 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia’s government and Tahir Group, which bought the country’s electricity networks last month, said that they will subsidise electricity prices until the end of July 2016. Earlier this year thousands of Armenians protested against proposed electricity price rises.
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(News report from Issue No. 254, published on Oct. 30 2015)
OCT. 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Eurasian Economic Commission published the latest statistics on trade turnover among EEU countries. It made for interesting, if also distressing, reading.
Trade among Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan was down by a quarter in Jan.-Aug. 2015, compared to the same period last year.
By volume, Russia was the country that suffered the largest fall, amounting to over $4b. In terms of percentage, however, all other countries except for Kyrgyzstan fared worse — Kyrgyzstan acceded as a full member only in August, so its numbers could be misleading.
Curiously, Armenia increased trade turnover with non-EEU countries such as Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan by over 40%.
In the two periods analysed by the Commission, oil prices were significantly different. And this can be clearly seen in Kazakhstan’s statistics, which show a sharp fall in exports to Italy, China and Russia, its main trade partners by volume. In particular, the value of Kazakhstan’s exports were reduced by the double whammy of lower oil prices and the decrease in the value of the tenge after the government abandoned its peg to the US dollar.
It is undeniable that the rouble crisis and the fall in oil prices have affected the Eurasian region. And the EEU has been unabel to contain the spill-over effects on its members.
OCT. 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) —
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(News report from Issue No. 253, published on Oct. 23 2015)
OCT. 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia has complained to NATO about an incursion by the Turkish military into its airspace earlier this month. Turkey is a NATO member and has stepped-up activity in the east of the country to counter the IS extremist group. Armenia’s military said that on Oct. 6 and Oct. 7 a Turkish military transport helicopter strayed into its airspace.
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(News report from Issue No. 253, published on Oct. 23 2015)
OCT. 21 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Perhaps it’s the Eurasian Economic Union effect. Prices of Mars chocolate bars in Armenia have fallen by around 20%, the Haykakan Zhamanak newspaper reported. Shopkeepers said a cut in customs duties have contributed to the price deflation. Armenia imports most Mars-branded chocolate bars from Russia. Armenia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Kyrgyzstan are members of the Eurasian Economic Union.
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(News report from Issue No. 253, published on Oct. 23 2015)
OCT. 16 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Former Armenian PM Tigran Sargsyan will take over as chairman of the Eurasian Economic Commission on Feb. 1, an appointment that highlights Russian President Vladimir Putin’s influence over the group.
The Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) announced Mr Sargsyan’s appointment after a meeting in Astana. Mr Sargsyan succeeds Russian Viktor Khristenko.
According to media, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said of Mr Sargsyan’s appointment: “His candidacy is supported by the Russian President as they worked together some time ago.”
The Eurasian Economic Commission runs the EEU — which also includes Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan as its members — on a day-to-day basis, and Mr Sargsyan’s appointment should, at first sight, give Armenia more influence over the trade bloc.
The reality is different, though. The EEU is a Russian project and Mr Lukashenko’s words show just how influential Mr Putin is over the group. Without his support, Mr Sargsyan could not have been appointed as chairman.
Since April 2014, Mr Sargsyan has been the Armenian ambassador to the United States. He had been PM between 2008-14 but quit abruptly after his government’s reforms to the state pension programme proved unpopular.
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(News report from Issue No. 253, published on Oct. 23 2015)
OCT. 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia’s foreign trade turnover dropped 20% in the first eight months of the year, its national statistics office said. The data is more evidence of the economic slowdown that has hit the South Caucasus over the past year.
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(News report from Issue No. 253, published on Oct. 23 2015)
OCT. 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a landmark ruling that will irritate the Armenian government, the European Court of Human Rights (ECRH) decreed that Dogu Perincek, chairman of Turkey’s Patriotic Party, should never have been convicted in 2007 by a Swiss court for denying an alleged genocide by Ottoman Turks of thousands of Armenians in 1915. The ECRH said the conviction was an infringement of Mr Perincek’s free speech. Armenia has been campaigning for denial of the genocide to be a crime.
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(News report from Issue No. 253, published on Oct.16 2015)
OCT. 7 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia’s Metsamor nuclear power plant will shut down in two stages in 2017-2018 as part of a planned modernisation of the plant, the Armenian government said. The ministry of energy had planned one 6- month long closure in 2017, but pressure on electricity prices have forced the government to split the period into two phases.
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(News report from Issue No. 251, published on Oct. 9 2015)
OCT. 6 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Armenian government approved a second draft of a new tax code that it hopes will pull in extra revenue and cut its deficit. At its core, media reported that the tax code will target closing tax benefits.
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(News report from Issue No. 251, published on Oct. 9 2015)
YEREVAN, OCT. 9 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — After buying Armenia’s electricity network last week, the Russia-based Tashir Group is on the brink of buying the Hrazdan thermal power station, one of the country’s biggest and most important electricity generating plants.
The Armenian Public Services Regulatory Commission said it approved a deal for Tashir, which is owned by Armenian businessman Samvel Karapetyan, to buy Hrazdan from Russia’s Inter RAO. Inter RAO also sold the electricity network to Tashir.
After a summer of popular protests against electricity price increases that Inter RAO had wanted to impose, Tashir Group, which has a large property portfolio, will now dominate the Armenian electricity sector.
Mr Karapetyan, who is based in Moscow and is one of the richest men in Russia, is the brother of Karen, a member of the Armenian parliament.
The Armenian government backed the deals involving Tashir Group, although details have not yet been disclosed.
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(News report from Issue No. 251, published on Oct. 9 2015)