May 19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia increased by 14% the amount of transactions completed through their bank cards or credit cards during the first quarter of the year compared to the same period a year earlier, media reported. This is important as it highlights increased consumer sophistication in Armenia.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 185, published on May 21 2014)
May 20 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – A row is brewing in Armenia over whether banks should write off loans to farmers as a form of compensation for damage to their crops caused by a cold snap in March.
Despite pressure from farming unions, Armenia’s Central Bank chief, Artur Javadyan, said that banks could not simply write-off the loans.
Mr Javadyan said that banks could not risk financing farmers who already receive beneficial loan rates. The government partly pays the interest on loans to farmers.
“We have no right to force the banks to risk deposit holders’ and stockholders’ funds,” he said according to reports.
A heavy snow storm on March 30 seriously damaged crops in Armenia and farmers have asked for compensation. The row highlights just how important farming is in Armenia.
Rural Armenia is poor and the farmers often merely scrape a living. They are heavily reliant on loans and beneficial rates from the government.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 185, published on May 21 2014)
May 17 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – A landslide in Georgia damaged a pipeline, temporarily cutting off gas supplies to Armenia, media reported. It’s unclear how serious the damage caused by the landslide is or when gas supplies through the pipeline will resume. Gazprom Armenia said it had enough reserves to cover the shortfall from the pipeline
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(News report from Issue No. 185, published on May 21 2014)
MAY 13 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia’s pension plan reform is still causing problems. It was one of the main contributing factors on the resignation last month of the previous government and is also top of the agenda for the new government.
To appease massive discontent over the proposed plan, the government dropped the most controversial part of it — imposing a mandatory 5% salary contribution towards people’s pension. Thousands of people had hated this concept and taken to the street to voice their anger.
Parliament has now heard the government’s new plans which called for an optional 5% salary contribution.
This is a rare concession from the ruling Republican Party but it still may not be enough. The opposition has said that the government has enough power to force companies to impose the 5% salary contribution on its employees.
It looks as if the new government will have to tackle the pension issue head on too.
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(News report from Issue No. 184, published on May 14 2014)
MAY 13 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia’s Central Bank cut its key interest rate to 7.25% from 7.5% after data showed that inflation was within its target range, Reuters reported quoting the Central Bank. Annual inflation in April measured 4.4% within the 2.5% to 5.5% bracket.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 184, published on May 14 2014)
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.
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(News report from Issue No. 184, published on May 14 2014)
MAY 12 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan’s government said that it had drafted a road map for its entry into the Russia-led Customs Union (CU). The economic union also includes Kazakhstan and Belarus. Armenia also plans to join this year. Kyrgyzstan’s membership of the CU should also allow Tajikistan to join.
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(News report from Issue No. 184, published on May 14 2014)
MAY 8 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev appears to have triggered a minor international row by snubbing a meeting of a former Soviet military group in favour of talks with a senior US diplomat.
Mr Nazarbayev had been due to travel to Moscow for a meeting of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), a military group that includes Russia, Belarus, Tajikistan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan.
Instead he decided to meet with the US deputy Secretary of State, William Burns, in Astana.
Officials were quick to deny there was a problem even though all the other CSTO leaders turned up in Moscow for a meeting chaired by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Mr Nazarbayev was conspicuous by his absence.
Back in Astana, to make the situation even more uncomfortable for Mr Nazarbayev, diplomats told journalists that Mr Burns had asked Mr Nazarbayev to try and use his influence with Mr Putin to relax Russia’s pressure in eastern Ukraine.
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(News report from Issue No. 184, published on May 14 2014)
MAY 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Industrial output in Armenia fell by 2.8% in the first three months of 2014 compared to the same period in 2013, media reported quoting the National Statistics Service.
The statistics agency did not specify why industrial output had fallen.
Economist have warned that Armenia faces a difficult year. At the end of 2013 an IMF mission to Armenia said the economy faced major challenges.
“These include responding to the slowdown of growth in 2013, low private and foreign direct investment in recent years, and relatively high poverty and unemployment,” it said in a report.
This year Armenia has moved increasingly to position itself within Russia’s orbit. It has done this for two main reasons. Both strategically and economically it needs Russia’s support.
Armenia’s relative economic weakness is pushing it faster towards Russia.
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(News report from Issue No. 183, published on May 7 2014)
MAY 5 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has told Iranian businessmen that they should increase investments in neighbouring Armenia, media reported, underlining strengthening relations between the two countries. Mr Hassan made the comments during a meeting with Armenian foreign minister Edward Nalbandian who was visiting Tehran.
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(News report from Issue No. 183, published on May 7 2014)