Tag Archives: business

Kazakh car sales fall

NOV. 16 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — New car sales in Kazakhstan have fallen by 37.7% since the start of the year, media reported quoting the Kazakh Association of Autobusin- esses. Overall, retailers sold 84,560 cars in Kazakhstan up to the end of October. Renault is one of the few car brands that has increased sales this year. The data showed that its sales had risen by 12.5% in Kazakhstan. A fall in the value of oil and a drop in the value of the tenge currency have hit the economy and dented consumer confidence.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 257, published on Nov. 20 2015)

Azerbaijan Airline cuts routes

NOV. 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan Airlines said that it had suspended flights between Baku and both Gabala and Ganja because they were unprofitable. The company said that there simply had not been enough passengers on the flights for them to be profitable.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 257, published on Nov. 20 2015)

Kumtor posts upbeat Q3 results, boosting Kyrgyzstan

NOV. 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Canadian miner Centerra Gold said production and revenue at Kumtor, Kyrgyzstan’s largest gold mine, increased in the third quarter, countering continued low gold prices and giving the Kyrgyz economy a welcome boost.

Production grew to 3.2 tonnes of gold, up 9% from 2.9 tonnes in Q3 2014. This compared against relatively depressed gold prices meaning that Centerra’s revenues grew by 3%. Gold prices have fallen since the start of November by 6% to a six-year low of $34.37/gram.

In a statement on its website, Ian Atkinson, Centerra’s CEO, said: “Financially, the Company is in good shape with cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments of $537m or

$461m, net of debt, at September 30, 2015.”

Importantly for Kyrgyzstan, Centerra’s tax contributions also rose. In the first nine months of 2015, Centerra paid $98.7m, a 20% increase compared to 2014.

Centerra is the largest taxpayer in Kyrgyzstan. Output at the Kumtor gold mine makes up 10% of GDP.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 257, published on Nov. 20 2015)

Condor hits dry well in Kazakhstan

NOV. 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Toronto-based Condor Petroleum said in its third quarter results that it had had to abandon an exploration well it had drilled in the Zharkamys West field in western Kazakhstan after it was found to be dry. Condor suspended production in Kazakhstan earlier this year because oil prices were too low to turn a profit.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 257, published on Nov. 20 2015)

KAZ Minerals invest in Kazakh copper

NOV. 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — KAZ Minerals, the Kazakh copper producer, plans to build two hydro- metallurgical processing plants in Zhezkazgan, central Kazakhstan, to extract more copper from low value, media reported. The combined project will cost around $30m. KAZ Minerals is one of Kazakhstan’s most important companies and has been linked to the elite.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 257, published on Nov. 20 2015)

Kazakhstan does not complain about Karachaganak

NOV. 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan does not have a complaint against the Karachaganak Petroleum Operating (KPO), which operates the oil and gas field, and does not intend to levy a fine against it, energy minister Vladimir Shkolnik said. His intervention was intended to smack down a report by Bloomberg that the energy ministry was preparing a £2b fine against KPO.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 257, published on Nov. 20 2015)

Wendy’s enters Georgian capital

NOV. 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — US fast food company Wendy’s opened a new restaurant in central Tbilisi, the largest in the world. Spread over three floors, the restaurant is part of a new strategy by Wendy’s to develop a concentrated presence in a handful of countries rather than spread too thinly across several different countries. In Georgia, Wissol Group own the Wendy’s franchise.Fast-food brands have earmarked Georgia as a growth market.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 257, published on Nov. 20 2015)

Azerbaijan invites Iran to use trade links

NOV. 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a potentially important move for regional trade links, Azerbaijan invited Iran to use its transport hub in the Kazakh port city of Aktau as a launch-pad to send its products across Central Asia. Iran is looking to bolster trade links across the region.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 257, published on Nov. 20 2015)

Pakistani PM visits Tajikistan

NOV. 12 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – On a trip that also took in neighbouring Uzbekistan, Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif visited Dushanbe for a meeting with Tajik president Emomali Rakhmon that would have focused on the CASA-1000 energy project. CASA-1000 aims to turn Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan into power exporters, sending electricity to Pakistan and Afghanistan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 257, published on Nov. 20 2015)

TeliaSonera says Tajikistan ordered Facebook block

NOV. 16 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Swedish mobile operator TeliaSonera said that the authorities in Tajikistan had ordered it to block access to a series of social media sites, including Facebook, because of alleged security threats.

In an unusually candid note, TeliaSonera, which operates in Tajikistan under the Tcell brand, said it had complied with the order, given on Nov. 2, although it did cast some doubt on the motives behind it.

“Government’s requests or demands often serve legitimate purposes such as the protection of certain human rights, but they may also be problematic in that they could conflict with other human rights,” it said in a statement on its website. “TeliaSonera’s commitment is to respect freedom of expression in telecommunications.”

The authorities in Tajikistan often ban access to social media because they say radical Islamists have infiltrated it. Human rights groups, though, have accused the government of cracking down on free speech.

As well as blocking Facebook, the authorities also blocked the Russian websites odnoklassniki.ru and vk.ru.

TeliaSonera, which is looking to sell its businesses in Central Asia and the South Caucasus after a corruption scandal in Uzbekistan, said it doesn’t comment on domestic politics.

“However, TeliaSonera does engage in dialogue regarding requests from authorities that affect our business and customers of companies in which we have ownership interests,” it said.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 257, published on Nov. 20 2015)