FEB. 24 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — London-listed Bank of Georgia said in its full year 2016 results that its revenues had risen by 17.8% to over 1b lari. Analysts considered this a decent but not overly brilliant annual performance because of the drop in value of the lari, which fell 10.5% against the the US dollar in 2016.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 318, published on Feb.24 2017)
TBILISI, FEB. 18 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia’s National Food Agency said it had suspended operational licences for 11 meat businesses because they failed hygiene requirements set out under new rules imposed by the EU.
The suspensions show the complexities of trying to bring hygiene standards in Georgia up to EU requirements so that businesses can take advantage of a new deal brought in last year which allows Georgian companies to export directly to Europe.
The 11 business included three slaughterhouses, four meat whole- sale facilities, three catering facilities, and one farmers’ market. On top of that, 34 business operators were fined due to minor infringements.
In an interview with The Conway Bulletin, Kakha Sokhadze, deputy head food safety inspector at the National Food Agency, said many local businesses still need to adapt to the new regulations.
“Because of the obligations we have with the EU, we are increasing the number of inspections and the more you cover, the more you find cases of non-compliance. Business operators should understand that there are new rules and new requirements,” he said.
Last year the EU and Georgia signed an Association Agreement that paved the way for various producers to export goods to the EU. Georgian companies have already signed deals with European importers to send wool and honey.
And the deal with the EU is having a far-reaching impact in Georgia.
Even meat which is not being exported now has to comply with new rules aimed at boosting hygiene.
Various labelling requirements, for example, were brought in on Jan. 1.
To export to the EU, each food category needs to be certified, said Carlo Natale, deputy head of the EU’s delegation in Georgia.
“Each product is approved after several studies and measurements are made in the country of production,” he told the Conway Bulletin. “At the moment we are examining fish and its various types of process- ing. Then, we will examine dairy products. The last one will be beef and meat. They are the most difficult.”
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(News report from Issue No. 318, published on Feb.24 2017)
FEB. 23 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The authorities in Italy have started moving 200 olive trees that stood in the way of the TAPI pipeline which is slated to pump gas from the Caspian Sea to Europe. Environmentalists had wanted the pipeline re-routed to save the trees but the pipeline’s backers said that this would delay Azerbaijani gas reaching Europe and also add millions of dollars to the cost. The authorities, in the end, decided it was simplest just to move the trees.
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(News report from Issue No. 318, published on Feb.24 2017)
FEB. 23 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Textile production in Kyrgyzstan was 27% lower in January compared to the same period a year earlier, media reported quoting official statistics. This is important as it shows the impact of a downturn in the economy. Textile production, outside mining, is one of Kyrgyzstan’s main earners.
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(News report from Issue No. 318, published on Feb.24 2017)
FEB. 18 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenia produced 2,012 tablet computers in 2016, up from 932 in 2015, media reported quoting the national statistics service. The US-Armenian joint-venture Technology and Science Dynamics Inc started making tablets in 2014 under a headline scheme designed to try to turn Armenia into something of tech-hub destination. Last year it also started producing smartphones.
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(News report from Issue No. 318, published on Feb.24 2017)
FEB. 21 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran plan to meet up next month to discuss setting up a North-South energy corridor, Russian energy minister Alexander Novak was quoted by media as saying. This is important as regional governments have been talking about trying to build a North-South energy corridor for years. It would give gas and oil produced in Russia, Central Asia and the South Caucasus access to the Persian Gulf, and Iran much- needed energy supplies in the north of the country.
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(News report from Issue No. 318, published on Feb.24 2017)
FEB. 22 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azercell, the Azerbaijan-based subsidiary of Sweden’s Telia, appeared to dodge releasing meaningful numbers for its performance at its full year 2016 press event, instead issuing a statement that discussed its contribution to the Azerbaijani economy and its spending on social projects.
Since 2011, Azercell has published online its results but this year was different. There was no results page with a breakdown of how the company had performed. Instead, an unashamedly PR-esque statement extolled the company’s virtues.
Requests to the Azercell press department for the full year results went unanswered, adding to the impression that Azercell was trying to dodge releasing the data. Azerbaijan’s economy is under pressure at the moment and shrunk by an estimated 3.8% in 2016. A drop in oil prices and a recession in Russia has hurt the oil-backed economy badly and forced the currency to devalue by 50%.
There was a hint in Telia’s own full year results in January, that Azercell had had a tough 2016.
Telia said that net sales in reported currency from its Eurasian unit had fallen by 25% because Ncell in Nepal had been sold and because of “lower net sales in Azercell in Azerbaijan due to negative currency development.”
It then said earnings had dropped in 2016 partly because of “margin erosion in Azercell in Azerbaijan”.
Telia has been looking to sell its units in the Central Asia and South Caucasus region because of reputational damage inflicted by its Uzbek unit over a corruption scandal.
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(News report from Issue No. 318, published on Feb.24 2017)
FEB. 21 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Oil output from BP’s projects in Azerbaijan, the mainstay of the country’s economy, fell to 630,000 barrels per day in 2016 from 634,000 in 2015, it said. This is bad news for Azerbaijan which is reliant on BP’s output to generate most of its income. Pres. Ilham Aliyev has personally extolled BP to boost production at its Azeri-Chirag- Guneshli fields.
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(News report from Issue No. 318, published on Feb.24 2017)
FEB. 20 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgian Airways said that it would restart a direct flight to London Gatwick from Tbilisi. The announcement appears to be a reaction from Georgia Airways to news released earlier this year that Hungary’s Whizz Air would fly from Luton Airport, near London, to Kutaisi, Georgia’s second city. British Airways scrapped its direct flight to Tbilisi in 2013.
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(News report from Issue No. 318, published on Feb.24 2017)
BISHKEK, FEB. 23 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — In its 2016 results Toronto-listed Centerra Gold said that it expected to have to pay all or part of a set of fines handed out to it by Kyrgyz environmental bodies over what it had previously described as an attempt by the government to pressure it into ceding a larger stake in the Kumtor gold mine.
Centerra Gold is locked in a battle with the Kyrgyz government over ownership of the Kumtor mine. Kyrgyzstan owns a 32.7% stake in Centerra Gold but it wants to own a direct stake in the mine which generates about a tenth of its GDP.
Last year Centerra launched an action at an international arbitration court after a Kyrgyz judge ordered cash generated by the Kumtor mine to stay in the country.
“If the Company were obligated to pay these amounts, it would have a material adverse impact on the Company’s future cash flows, earnings, results of operations and financial condition,” Centerra said.
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(News report from Issue No. 318, published on Feb.24 2017)