Tag Archives: Azerbaijan

Three die around Nagorno-Karabakh

FEB. 6 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Three more people — an Armenian civilian, an Armenian solider and an Azerbaijani soldier — have died in sporadic fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan around the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, media reported quoting the Armenian defence ministry. Observers have urged calm but tension has increased.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 218, published on Feb. 11 2015)

S&P downgrades SOCAR

FEB. 9 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The ratings agency Standard & Poor’s downgraded the Azerbaijani state energy company SOCAR to a negative outlook from stable because of the decline in global energy prices, Reuters reported. Standard & Poor’s downgraded Azerbaijan’s sovereign rating last month.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 218, published on Feb. 11 2015)

Armenia raises interest rates, again

>>Inflation and Russian rouble devaluation are pressuring Armenian Central Bank>>

FEB. 10 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenia’s Central Bank increased its key interest rate to 10.5% from 9.5%, the third rate rise since December, because of rising inflation.

Data from the Central Bank showed that annualised inflation hit 4.3% in January which is at the top end of the government’s target range.

Central Banks across Central Asia and the South Caucasus have steadily been increasing interest rates to keep pace with Russian monetary moves. Russia is trying to defend its currency against both falling oil prices and the impact of sanctions.

Armenia’s economy is particularly tied into Russia’s economy. At the beginning of the year, Armenia also joined the Kremlin-lead Eurasian Economic Union which many see as a Moscow inspired political union.

Inflation in Russia has hit around 12% and is still rising. Economists said this would undoubtedly push the price of goods in Armenia up too.

Before the Central Bank raised interest rates in December, the Armenia’s interest rate had stood at 6.75%.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 218, published on Feb. 11 2015)

Civil rights fall across the region

EDINBURGH/NEW YORK, FEB. 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Civil freedoms in Central Asia and the South Caucasus took a turn for the worse in 2014 as governments moved closer to Russia and worried that street demonstrations in Ukraine may spread, Freedom House said in an interview.

The sharpest deterioration in civil rights in 2014, according to the US-based lobby group, came in Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan.

“Governments restricted freedom of assembly and speech to prevent ‘maidans’ and Russian encouragement of separatism,” Nate Schenkkan, a Eurasia Programme Officer at Freedom House, said in an interview with The Bulletin. Schenkkan’s reference to so-called maidans was to Ukrainian street demonstrations which morphed into a full scale revolution.
The interview was conducted over twitter with questions also taken from viewers.

At the end of last year Azerbaijani police raided the office of the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. In the interview with The Bulletin, Schenkkan said the police raid was the culmination of a tough year for media and government critics in Azerbaijan.

“There was a full-scale crackdown. Now (there are) 90 plus political prisoners, all independent media shuttered in Azerbaijan,” he said. “Sanctions for Azerbaijani officials should be on the table and EU leaders should skip the European Games.” Azerbaijan is hosting the inaugural European Games later this year.

As for Kyrgyzstan, Schenkkan said new legislation had dented Kyrgyzstan’s image.

“Kyrgyzstan is the most disappointing because it is a reversal after relative gains recently,” he said. “Copycat attempts at Russian legislation against LGBTI and NGOs nearly passed.”
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 218, published on Feb. 11 2015)

Azerbaijan cancels social projects

>>Fall in oil price has hit Azerbaijan hard

JAN. 29 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s government has cancelled a $100m project to provide rural communities with vastly improved and faster internet, media reported.

The fall in the price of oil prices has hit Azerbaijan hard. It is very much a petro-dollar economy and has had to adjust its budget to account for falling revenues.

The project was supposed to be funded by the state budget but it was, instead, one of the first to be cut when the budget was re-organised earlier this year.

And the project was supposed to be a major stepping stone to build a more integrated, connected society. Research in 2013 showed that only 500 of Azerbaijan’s 4,000 villages had access to the internet, a figure the government’s programme was supposed to improve.

Another project that the government has apparently reduced funding for is the Star refinery that it was building in Turkey. Instead, media reported, the Star oil refinery will be funded by foreign-backed debt.

Oil prices are critical to Azerbaijan. Last week BP, the biggest foreign investor in Azerbaijan, said that it was making 8% of its local workforce redundant.

The next few months are going to be important. While prices remain low, there could be more project cancellations to come.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 217, published on Feb. 4 2015)

Azerbaijan’s ratings downgraded

JAN. 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The ratings agency Standard & Poor’s downgraded Azerbaijan’s debt rating to negative from stable because of the fall in oil prices. It said 44% of Azerbaijan’s GDP and 95% of its exports were linked to the energy industry. Despite calls from various foreign institutions, Azerbaijan has failed to diversify.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 217, published on Feb. 4 2015)

Tension builds over Nagorno-Karabakh

JAN. 29 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tension between Azerbaijan and Armenia is worsening. Azerbaijan said it shot down an Armenian military drone and the OSCE, Europe’s democracy watchdog, called for restraint as more soldiers were killed. In a New York Times story, expert Thomas de Waal said: “This is as bad as it has got since the (1994) cease-fire.”
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 217, published on Feb. 4 2015)

MP defends Azerbaijan’s human rights record

JAN. 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Samad Seyidov, a pro-president Azerbaijani MP, said Azerbaijan hasn’t imprisoned anybody for their political beliefs. Mr Seyidov was countering criticism of a crackdown on human rights by Azerbaijan. The day before another opposition journalist had been jailed for so-called hooliganism.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 217, published on Feb. 4 2015)

Berdymukhamedov flies to Ankara

MARCH 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov flew to Anakara for talks with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on cooperation in the energy sector. Media reported that Mr Erdogan wants to set up a grouping with Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan. This is likely to revolve around the South Caucasus energy corridor.
-ENDS-

(News report from Issue No. 221, published on March 4 2015)

BP cuts jobs in Azerbaijan

JAN. 27 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — BP said it had cut 255 jobs from its operations in Azerbaijan as a result of the sharp drop in oil prices over the past six months. The 255 jobs represents 8% of its total workforce in Azerbaijan. The redundancies highlighted the impact of the oil price drop on the country.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 216, published on Jan. 28 2015)