OCT. 6 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenia and Azerbaijan argued over the death of an Armenian man found hanged in an Azeri jail. Azerbaijan said it had arrested Manvel Saribekyan for spying and that he had committed suicide. Armenia said Saribekyan was a herdsman who accidentally strayed into Azerbaijan and that he had been murdered.
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(News report from Issue No. 10, published on Oct. 7 2010)
SEPT. 27 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan will start investing part of its $20b oil fund in equities for the first time to boost returns, the fund’s chief investment officer Israfil Mammadov told Bloomberg. He declined to say what proportion of the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) would be invested in equities.
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(News report from Issue No. 9, published on Sept. 30 2010)
SEPT. 16 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan will keep its manat currency pegged to the US dollar and the euro while its economy improves, the head of the Central Bank, Elman Rustamov, told Bloomberg. Azerbaijan pegged the manat’s exchange rate in March 2009 during a downturn in the global economy.
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(News report from Issue No. 8, published on Sept. 23 2010)
SEPT. 23 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s economy is reliant on oil and gas. It has rebounded this year after a heavy slump in the world economy and oil prices combined in 2009 to knock growth.
In August, the ratings agency Moody’s upgraded the Azeri banking sector to stable from negative, reflecting Azerbaijan’s improving economy. Moody’s said the Azeri economy remained vulnerable to external shocks but “the banks are also benefiting from relatively stable macroeconomic conditions”.
In an interview with Bloomberg, the head of Azerbaijan’s Central Bank, Elman Rustamov, echoed this sentiment. He said Azerbaijan’s economy would grow by 4-5% this year compared to a 14% fall in 2009 but that he wanted to keep Azerbaijan’s currency, the manat, pegged at 0.803 to the US dollar for the rest of the year.
Mr Rustamov said the manat peg was important to stop the currency strengthening too quickly and damaging the non-oil sector’s recovery.
The manat has gained 12.5% against the dollar since redenomination in January 2006.
Oil makes up 93% of Azerbaijan’s exports and the average price per barrel has been 37% higher this year compared to 2009, Mr Rustamov said. Oil production will remain at around 50m tonnes this year, roughly the same as 2009. In 2008, Azeri oil production was 44.5m tonnes.
Mr Rustamov said that inflation would rise to about 10% this year.
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(News report from Issue No. 8, published on Sept. 23 2010)
SEPT. 14 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan, Georgia and Romania agreed to create a transit route for liquefied natural gas from the Caspian Sea to Central Europe. The route will use existing pipelines to pump gas to Georgia’s Black Sea coast and then ship it across to Romania. It will rival Europe’s proposed Nabucco pipeline system and Russia’s South Stream.
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(News report from Issue No. 7, published on Sept. 16 2010)
SEPT. 3 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russia will double the amount of gas it buys from Azerbaijan from next year to 2b cubic metres. Europe and Russia are competing for Azerbaijan’s gas supply. Europe needs the gas to fill its proposed Nabucco pipeline that will run from the Caspian Sea to central Europe.
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(News report from Issue No. 6, published on Sept. 9 2010)
SEPT. 8 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) — The EU’s envoy to the South Caucasus, Peter Semneby, warned that intensifying skirmishes around the enclave of Nagnoro-Karabakh could spin out of control. In an interview with Reuters, Mr Semneby said more international monitors were needed to strengthen the ceasefire between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
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(News report from Issue No. 6, published on Sept. 9 2010)