NOV. 22 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — British energy company BP plans to commission a new oil platform at the $6b Chirag Oil Project by the end of this year, media reported. The Chirag Oil Project is part of BP’s efforts to boost production at the ACG oil field in the Caspian Sea.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 162, published on Nov. 27 2013)
NOV. 25 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry said it welcomed the relaxation of international sanctions on its neighbour Iran. Iran and a group of five countries led by the US held negotiations in Geneva over Iran’s nuclear programme. In return for relaxing sanctions, Iran agreed to throttle back its uranium enrichment programme.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 162, published on Nov. 27 2013)
NOV. 14 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Islamist fighters from Russia’s North Caucasus region are crossing into Azerbaijan on their way to fight in Syria, Reuters reported. The movement of Islamic fighters through Azerbaijan is a security concern for the Azerbaijani authorities. Azerbaijan borders Dagestan, in the North Caucasus.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 161, published on Nov. 20 2013)
NOV. 19 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan met in Vienna for the first time in nearly two year to discuss the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The two leaders last met to specifically discuss Nagorno-Karabakh in June 2011. No details of their discussion were released.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 161, published on Nov. 20 2013)
NOV. 14 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in Baku sentenced Sardar Alibeili, editor of the independent P.S. Nota newspaper, to four years in jail for attacking another man in the street in July. Human rights groups around the world said the charges were false and accused the authorities of clamping down on free speech.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 161, published on Nov. 20 2013)
NOV. 18 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Iran has accused Azerbaijan of torturing one of its citizens, Iranian media reported. The accusation that Azerbaijani security forces arrested Iranian Hassan Faraji then tortured him may inflame tension between Azerbaijan and Iran. Azerbaijan has previously accused Iran of plotting bomb attacks in Baku.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 161, published on Nov. 20 2013)
NOV. 15 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Concluding its mission to Azerbaijan, the IMF said that the country’s economy was moving in the right direction although it needed to restructure its biggest bank, the state-owned International Bank of Azerbaijan.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 161, published on Nov. 20 2013)
NOV. 18 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan is considering buying a pair of T-129 attack helicopters manufactured by its close ally Turkey, media reported. T-129 helicopters bristle with weapons. Azerbaijan is spending heavily on its military, concerning neighbours, especially Armenia with which it is still officially at war over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 161, published on Nov. 20 2013)
NOV. 15 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan has made decent economic progress but more needs to be done to continue to encourage business to develop, the IMF said in a statement after it concluded an assessment of the country’s economy.
The IMF said in general it supported the Azerbaijani Central Bank’s plan to force banks to strengthen their capitalisation levels. It was concerned, though, about the health of the state-owned International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA).
“The mission calls for combining this capitalisation with the restructuring of this bank (the IBA) in line with internationally accepted practices,” the IMF said in a statement.
The IBA is so large and important to Azerbaijan’s banking sector, the IMF explained, that it needs to be reformed. Earlier this year, the IBA said it would increase its capitalisation levels to 500 million Manat (about $640 million).
In December 2012, the Fitch ratings agency downgraded the IBA’s credit rating because it said its capitalisation levels were too low.
Overall, the IMF said the Azerbaijani authorities were on the right track with reducing non-oil deficit levels.
“Azerbaijan’s near-term economic prospects are generally favourable, with overall gross domestic product growth projected at 5% in 2013 and 2014, following the successful stabilization of oil output,” the IMF concluded.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 161, published on Nov. 20 2013)
NOV. 20 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — In an important, but little noticed, report Azerbaijan’s Central Bank said that plans to ensure that its banking sector holds enough capital to protect it from a sudden economic downfall are on track.
It said that of the 43 banks operating in Azerbaijan, those holding 95% of all deposits will hit the target of ensuring they hold a minimum capital of 50 million manat, roughly $64 million, by the end of the year.
Elman Rustamov, the chairman of the Azerbaijani Central Bank, said the smaller banks would be given until the end of 2014 to hit the required levels of capital.
“However, this does not mean that banks can relax. They need to work and grow,” Mr Rustamov said according to local media.
“Other countries also took such precedents to protect themselves.”
The Azerbaijani Central Bank ordered commercial banks to improve the amount of capital they hold as a reaction to the relative boom in consumer borrow that has taken off.
This year consumer credit has risen fast in Azerbaijan, worrying some analysts.
International financial institutions, including the IMF, have supported the new rules over bank capitalisation in Azerbaijan.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 161, published on Nov. 20 2013)