Tag Archives: business

GM sells cars in Uzbek soum

JUNE 2 2017 (The Bulletin) — GM Uzbekistan, a joint-venture between the US’ GM and state- owned Uzavtosanoat, started selling its cars in Uzbek soum for the first time, Reuters reported, rolling back a Karimov-era policy that insisted that the cars were sold in US dollars. Karimov was Uzbek president from 1991 until his death in September 2016. His successor, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, has promised to liberalise Uzbekistan’s economy. Karimov had wanted cars sold in soum in order to bring more foreign currency into the country.

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(News report from Issue No. 331, published on June 5 2017)

BP to sign Azerbaijan-Chirag-Guneshli extension

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MAY 31 2017 (The Bulletin) — BP expects to sign an extension to its production sharing agreement for the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli oil fields (ACG) in the Azerbaijani section of the Caspian Sea by the end of June, its regional head, Gary Jones, told media. ACG is Azerbaijan’s biggest oil field system. The current contract expires in 2024 and a new contract is expected to cover until 2050. The contract extension has been expected.

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(News report from Issue No. 331, published on June 5 2017)

Tajikistan boosts trade with Afghanistan

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JUNE 2 2017 (The Bulletin) — Trade between Tajikistan and Afghanistan has increased considerably over the past few years, Tajik transport minister Khudoyorzoda Khudoyor said on a visit to Kabul. This is important for Western strategists who have tried to promote trade between Central Asia and Afghanistan and Pakistan as way to impose a lasting peace in the region. Specifically, Mr Khudoyor said that Tajikistan had exported $74m of goods to Afghanistan in the first four months of the year, including $11m worth of cement.

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(News report from Issue No. 331, published on June 5 2017)

Kazakhstan’s lending to builders falls

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MAY 31 2017 (The Bulletin) — Banks in Kazakhstan are restricting lending to construction companies over concerns that they are failing to pay back loans, the website energyprom.kz reported. It said that at the end of March banks’ loan portfolio to construction projects was 3.8% lower than it had been a year earlier and nearly half the amount of 2008/9. No construction companies commented on the data. The construction sector is one of the drivers of the economy. Any slowdown in activity is a leading indicator that the economy still has some way to go before it recovers from a general malaise since 2014.

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(News report from Issue No. 331, published on June 5 2017)

Kazakh police learn tourist way

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JUNE 5 2017 (The Bulletin) — Kazakh officials were busy putting the final touches together for EXPO-2017 which Astana is hosting for three months from June 8. President Nursultan Nazarbayev opened a new Ritz-Carlton hotel in Astana, and a new airport terminal and train station were also opened. Media also reported that Kazakh police were getting lessons on how to be polite to tourists.

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(News report from Issue No. 331, published on June 5 2017)

Kazakhstan’s Tengizchevroil suspends production

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MAY 29 2017 (The Bulletin) — Tengizchevroil, Kazakhstan’s largest oil producer, briefly suspended production after a toxic substance was released at its plant. The company, owned by Chevron, ExxonMobil, Lukoil and Kazmunaigas, restarted operations a few hours later. It said that there had been no injuries or damage to equipment from the spill which is blamed on a powercut.

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(News report from Issue No. 331, published on June 5 2017)

More Azerbaijani banks rely on state support to survive

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MAY 30 2017 (The Bulletin) — Five more Azerbaijani banks are currently failing to meet their capitalisation requirements, Rufat Aslani, head of the Financial Markets Supervisory Authority told media, suggesting more weakness in the sector.

In May, Azerbaijan’s biggest bank, the International Bank of Azerbaijan, which is 80% owned by the government and has a market share of around 60%, said that it needed to restructure its debt to stave off bankruptcy.

Now, after a series of small banks merged or went bankrupt in 2016, it has emerged that five mid-sized banks are still under the special supervision of Azerbaijan’s Financial Market Supervisory Authority.

“Today, under our supervision, there are five banks, capitalisation programs of which should be completed by mid-2017,” media quoted Mr Aslani as saying at a banking conference in Baku.

Mr Aslani did not name the banks but the Business New Europe magazine named three of them as Unibank, AtaBank and DemirBank — all mid-sized banks. None of the banks responded to requests for comment. The EBRD owns a 25% stake in DemirBank and Dutch development finance company FMO owns a 10% stake.

The Central Bank has imposed increased capitalisation rules to strengthen the sector. A recession in Russia and a collapse in oil prices since 2014 have halved the value of the Azerbaijani manat and heavily dented the banking sector.

Analysts had warned that Azerbaijani banks have been too relaxed about lending.

The currency devaluation and poor economic conditions have triggered a surge in bad debt which Moody’s, the rating agency, said stood at 30% of the banking sector’s loan portfolio.

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(News report from Issue No. 331, published on June 5 2017)

Air Kyrgyzstan promises to buy Russian plane

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MAY 29 2017 (The Bulletin) — Irkut, the Russian airplane maker, said that it had signed up three companies to buy its new medium- haul passenger aircraft MC-21, including Air Kyrgyzstan . The aircraft, which only completed its maiden flight on May 29, is supposed to be Russia’s answer to the Airbus and Boeing planes. The other companies that have, according to the manufacturers, agreed to buy the MC-21 are Russian airlines Aeroflot and Utair. Separately, Zhamshitbek Kalilov, the Kyrgyz transport minister said Air Kyrgyzstan would buy three new plane to fly on domestic routes.

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(News report from Issue No. 331, published on June 5 2017)

ADB lends $500m to Uzbekistan

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JUNE 1 2017 (The Bulletin) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved a $500m loan to Uzbekistan to build 29,000 affordable houses in rural areas. The ADB has said that housing stock in Uzbekistan’s rural areas is particularly poor. Since Shavkat Mirziyoyev took over as president in 2016, institutional development banks have been lining up to lend Uzbekistan money for various projects.

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(News report from Issue No. 331, published on June 5 2017)

Kazakhstan rises oil production

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MAY 30 2017 (The Bulletin) — Analysts accused Kazakhstan of breaking a pledge made to OPEC that it would reduce its oil production in line with an agreed strategy. Data from the International Energy Agency in March showed Kazakh production rising by 40,000 barrels per day to 1.718m barrels per day, despite a pledged decrease. Analysts said that increased production at Kashagan triggered the increase.

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(News report from Issue No. 331, published on June 5 2017)