Tag Archives: Azerbaijan

Azerbaijani econ. data shows woes

MARCH 31 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Data on economic activity in Azerbaijan showed a sharp slowdown after the government abandoned the currency peg to the US dollar in December, a move that triggered a 30% drop in the value of the manat currency.

Azerbaijan imported markedly less wheat and cars, both good indicators of domestic demand.

In January, imports of wheat fell by 55.8% to 47.95m tonnes, as businesses found it increasingly more difficult to pay for their orders in foreign currency.

Total car imports in January and February this year were just 821 units, barely a tenth of the total during the same period in 2015.

Also, Azerbaijan’s State Statistics Committee said that the country had generated 6.4% less power in the first two months of the year compared to the same period last year. Thermal power production, Azerbaijan’s main source of electricity, was down nearly 8%, suggesting that demand from consumers and businesses had dropped — another indicator of the sharp economic downturn.

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(News report from Issue No. 274, published on April 1 2016)

Azerbaijani court releases activist

MARCH 28 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Azerbaijan converted a seven-year prison sentence into a five-year conditional one for human rights lawyer Intigam Aliyev, allowing his immediate release. Mr Aliyev had already spent two years in prison. His release follows the release of 14 political prisoners earlier this month. The West has criticised Azerbaijan for its crack- down on free speech.

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(News report from Issue No. 274, published on April 1 2016)

Azerbaijan issues $1b Eurobond for gas pipelines

MARCH 24 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s finance ministry issued a $1b 10-year Eurobond to fund the Southern Gas Corridor company which is building an energy transport route between the Caspian Sea and Europe.

The initial yield on the debt was 7%.

Analysts have said that the rare debt issue for such a high-profile

Azerbaijani energy project is another indication of just how heavily the economic downturn has impacted finances.

The Southern Gas Corridor is a state-owned company in charge of the design and construction of pipelines that will send gas from the Caspian Sea to Europe by 2019. These include TANAP, which will run across Turkey and TAP, which will link Greece to Italy.

The EU considers the project to be a priority for its energy security strategy as it reduces its reliance on Russia for gas. Azerbaijan is hoping to give its gas sector a major lift with the EU as a key client.

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(News report from Issue No. 273, published on March 25 2016)

Azerbaijan’s ACG oil output falls

MARCH 21 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – BP said it expects flat oil output this year from its Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) oil fields off the coast of Azerbaijan in the Caspian Sea. Last year, ACG produced 31.3m tonnes of oil, slightly down from 31.5m tonnes in 2014. BP also said it plans two rounds of maintenance later this year. ACG is the mainstay of Azerbaijan’s oil production. Its output has been falling.

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(News report from Issue No. 273, published on March 25 2016)

Silk Way West in Azerbaijan signs agreement with Malaysian Cargo

MARCH 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Silk Way West Airlines, a private freight air carrier based in Azerbaijan, signed an agreement with Malaysia Airlines Cargo that will allow them to mutually use their aircraft fleet. Earlier in January, Silk Way West Airlines signed an agreement with the Komatsu airport in Japan to open a new route. The Silk Way Group, a large industrial conglomerate, owns Silk Way West Airlines.

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(News report from Issue No. 273, published on March 25 2016)

Azerbaijan’s SOFAZ to spend big

MARCH 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree to set SOFAZ’s spending at 10.7b manats ($6.5m) and revenues at 4.6b manats ($2.8b) for 2016, meaning that the fund will post a loss for the second consecutive year. Assets held by SOFAZ, Azerbaijan’s sovereign wealth fund, dropped by 9.5% in 2015 to $33.6b because it paid around 8b manats ($5.16b) into the state budget to help the country weather the economic downturn.

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(News report from Issue No. 273, published on March 25 2016)

Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan to sign TASIM

MARCH 17 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan are close to signing a deal on the so called Trans-Eurasian Information Super Highway (TASIM) that aims to lay a superfast broadband cable linking Europe and Asia, media reported. The Azerbaijan-Turkmenistan deal aims to span the Caspian Sea.

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(News report from Issue No. 272, published on March 18 2016)

Editorial: Azerbaijan’s pardon

MARCH 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – In the past weeks, European Union representatives had said soothing, nice words to Azerbaijan’s leadership, especially in light of its key participation in the Southern Gas Corridor infrastructure complex, which will bring Caspian Sea gas to Europe by 2019.

Human rights advocates in the West had lobbied loudly for a hardline position regarding the government’s crackdown on political freedoms.

But the EU chose to avoid the critical topic and went on talking business.

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev’s decision to free some political prisoners must be read as a payment in kind to the EU’s soft hand on human rights.

While welcoming the gesture, people in Azerbaijan are still waiting for the release of Ilgar Mammadov, Khadija Ismayilova and Intigam Aliyev, three political prisoners that were not pardoned.

By pardoning political prisoners, the government is holding out an olive branch towards the West, more than towards domestic actors. The struggle for them, for independent media and for opposition parties, is not over just yet.

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Editorial from Issue No. 272, published on March 18 2016)

Azerbaijan cancels daylight saving time

MARCH 17 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan cancelled daylight saving time, first introduced in 1997. It’s unclear, specifically, why Azerbaijan decided to abandon its daylight saving time. News reports said that Azerbaijan’s time would remain at GMT +4.

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(News report from Issue No. 272, published on March 18 2016)

BA cuts UK- Azerbaijan route as demand falls

MARCH 17 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – British Airways will cut its route to Baku from April 29 because it has become unprofitable, another indication of the severity of the economic downturn that has hit Central Asia and the South Caucasus in general and Azerbaijan in particular.

Baku is BP’s major regional hub and British Airways had been flying six times a week direct to Baku from Heathrow. Its decision to cut the route, which has been serviced by a British airline since 1995, further cuts the region off from Europe.

Over the past three years, British Airways has cut routes to Bishkek, Tbilisi and Almaty. By stopping flights to Baku it pulls back from the region altogether.

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(News report from Issue No. 272, published on March 18 2016)