APRIL 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – ArcelorMittal Temirtau, Kazakhstan’s largest steelmaker, said it will appoint Paramjit Kahlon, the former CEO of an ArcelorMittal steel plant in Ukraine, as its new CEO in May. ArcelorMittal Temirtau has laid off thousands of workers over the past few years as it tries to deal with low steel prices triggered by a glut of supply.
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(News report from Issue No. 277, published on April 22 2016)
APRIL 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – A boost from the mining sector helped Tajikistan’s industrial production to grow 13% in the first quarter of the year. Total industrial production stood at almost 3b somoni ($400m), compared to around 2.6b somoni ($450m at the time) in the first quarter of 2015. The mining sector grew by 74% year-on-year.
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(News report from Issue No. 277, published on April 22 2016)
APRIL 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgian businessman Cezar Chocheli will enter a joint venture with an unnamed Chinese company to build a $100m cement plant in Senaki, around 250km west of Tbilisi. The new factory, will employ around 500 people. Investors expect construction to begin in June.
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(News report from Issue No. 277, published on April 22 2016)
APRIL 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan’s anti-monopoly agency said it will monitor possible unjustified price increases by Gazprom Neft Asia for its petrol. The subsidiary of Russian energy giant Gazprom owns and operates filling stations throughout the country. Reports had shown possible price increases of 7-10% for Gazprom’s petrol from April 1.
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(News report from Issue No. 277, published on April 22 2016)
APRIL 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s state-owned energy company SOCAR said it is eyeing expansion in both Ukraine and Turkey’s petrol distribution sector. This week, SOCAR said it is opening eight petrol station in Kiev. Last week SOCAR said it was in talks to buy OMV Petrol Ofisi, the Turkish subsidiary of Austria’s OMV.
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(News report from Issue No. 277, published on April 22 2016)
APRIL 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – A regional economic downturn has dented Armenia’s imports in 2015, data from the state Statistics Committee showed. Car imports shrank by 38% to 27,300 last year, compared to 2014. Oil imports shrank by 8%. A region-wide currency crisis has affected purchasing power in the South Caucasus and Armenia’s trade numbers reflect this.
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(News report from Issue No. 277, published on April 22 2016)
APRIL 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Turkmen energy ministry said it plans to produce 450,000 tonnes of compressed natural gas (CNG) this year, betting on the high demand for fuel in neighbouring countries. The Turkmen government doesn’t generally publish data on its CNG production, but the tone of the release showed that this might be an increase compared to last year.
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(News report from Issue No. 277, published on April 22 2016)
APRIL 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Halyk Bank, Kazakhstan’s second- largest bank, said it has launched a new banking subsidiary, Altyn-i, which will operate a digital-only model. Altyn-i will operate under Altyn Bank, the successor of HSBC Kazakhstan, that Halyk Bank bought in March 2014 for $176m.
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(News report from Issue No. 277, published on April 22 2016)
APRIL 21 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – TALCO, Tajikistan’s aluminium smelter, said it agreed to supply 200,000 tonnes of aluminium per year to Glencore, a Swiss-based commodities trader. This is an increase of almost 23% compared to the previous deal which expires later this year. TALCO also said it increased its aluminium production by 17% in the first quarter of 2016, compared to the same period last year.
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(News report from Issue No. 277, published on April 22 2016)
APRIL 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The AIIB, a China-backed international financial institution, said it would fund road projects in Tajikistan and Kazakhstan. According to unnamed sources quoted in the FT, the AIIB will join an EBRD-funded road project in Dushanbe and a World Bank and EBRD-backed ring road project in Almaty. The AIIB has said it is keen to fund infrastructure upgrades within its Silk Road project.
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(News report from Issue No. 277, published on April 22 2016)