JULY 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia’s foreign currency reserves increased by $100m in May, the Central Bank told media. The increase shows that pressure on the dram has reduced. Last year, the Central Bank spent a third of its reserves defining the dram.
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(News report from Issue No. 238, published on July 2 2015)
JULY 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Economists polled by Bloomberg News said Kazakhstan will be one of the top ten worst performing economies in 2015. Kazakhstan’s economy is expected to grow by 1.2% this year, down from an estimate of 3.6% in March.
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(News report from Issue No. 238, published on July 2 2015)
JULY 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – TBILISI — Turkmenistan’s President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov travelled to Tbilisi for the first time in his eight-year presidency, part of a high-profile charm offensive aimed at winning support for pumping Turkmen gas to Europe across the South Caucasus.
Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili welcomed Mr Berdymukhamedov at the Presidential Palace overlooking Tbilisi with red carpet and a guard of honour.
“Energy is one of the issues on which we cooperate closely. A Transit route from Turkmenistan to Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey has a huge potential,” Georgian media quoted Mr Berdymukhamedov as saying after the meeting. said.
Mr Margvelashvili agreed.
“Our joint transit and energy projects will make it possible to transit Turkmen energy resources to the European markets,” he said.
This year momentum has built for Turkmenistan to start sending its gas to Europe across the south Caucasus. The European Union has visited Ashgabat several times to secure promises of gas supplies from Turkmenistan and Turkmen officials have set up working groups with their Azerbaijani, Georgian and Turkish counterparts on how best to pump gas to Europe.
Europe wants to reduce its dependence on Russia for energy supplies and Turkmenistan wants to widen its client base. Currently most of its gas flows east to China.
By travelling to Tbilisi for the first time since he became Turkmen president in 2007, Mr Berdymukhamedov has sent out a strong signal of his intent.
Luca Anceschi, a professor of Central Asian Studies at Glasgow University explained.
“This meeting, marking Berdymukhamedov’s first official visit to Georgia, is an important display of Turkmenistan’s policy of maintaining an open dialogue with as many potential partners as possible,” he said.
And Georgia is important because it lies on the pipeline transit route from Azerbaijan to Turkey and then into Europe. Mr Berdymukhamedov, as he clearly has acknowledged, needs Georgian support to push gas through to Europe.
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(News report from Issue No. 238, published on July 2 2015)
JULY 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Commercial banks in Kyrgyzstan’s need to meet a minimum capitalisation level, the Central Bank said, part of an ongoing process to professionalise the banking sector and protect it against another Global Financial Crisis. By 2017, commercial banks in Kyrgyzstan will need a working capital of nearly $10m.
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(News report from Issue No. 238, published on July 2 2015)
JUNE 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan’s Central Bank kept its interest rates steady at 9.5%, despite inflation falling. The Central Bank is trying to weigh up protecting its som currency from devaluing and also stopping inflation dropping too low. Inflation dropped to 4.8%, down by half since the beginning of the year.
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(News report from Issue No. 238, published on July 2 2015)
JULY 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – TBILISI — Remittances from Greece to Georgia have dropped by nearly a fifth this year because Greek financial meltdown, deputy finance minister Giorgi Kakauridze said.
And Greece is a vital of income for Georgia. Russia, Greece is Georgia’s most important source of remittances.
“The situation in Greece will of course affect money transfers to Georgia, but remittances are already significantly reduced not only from Greece, but from other sources as well, so it will not have a significant effect on the Georgian economy anymore,” Mr Kakauridze told the Rustavi-2 television station.
Georgia, Russia and Greece are all predominantly Christian Orthodox countries.
Overall remittance flows to Georgia have fallen by 23% to $438m in the first five months of this year. Remittances from Greece were down 18% to $69m. From Russia, remittances had fallen by 42% to $163m.
Greece has defaulted on an IMF loan repayment and it is holding a referendum on Sunday to decide whether to accept tighten bailout rules. It’s banks have placed currency controls on withdrawals.
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(News report from Issue No. 238, published on July 2 2015)
JULY 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The European Union will give Uzbekistan $168m to boost infrastructure in rural areas, the European Commission envoy Yuri Sturk said.Mr Sturk specifically said that the EU grant was earmarked to improve irrigation and to boost renewable energies.
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(News report from Issue No. 238, published on July 2 2015)
JUNE 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – DUSHANBE – Remittances from Tajik workers in Russia to Tajikistan have dropped by 44% this year, the Russian Central Bank said.
This is inline with World Bank projections and highlights the economic problems facing Tajikistan and other countries in Central Asia. Russia’s economy has dipped into recession because of a combination of falling oil prices and economic sanctions imposed by the West in retaliation for the Kremlin’s alleged support for rebels in east Ukraine.
And this recession has hit Tajikistan and other countries in Central Asia hard. Remittances account for roughly half of Tajikistan’s economy.
In Dushanbe, the mood on the streets was glum.
Amirbek Saidbekov, a Dushanbe resident, said life had gotten harder.
“The money they send home has declined by about a half,” he said. “The money my uncle sends is not enough to provide for his family. The life quality of his family has worsened now.”
Shuhrat Murodilloev, a Dushanbe-based political scientist, said the drop in remittance was having a knock-on effect.
“Market employment is falling because of the decreased sales and the unstable Tajik currency,” he said. “Many people have lost their jobs in the market because there is no money coming from Russia.”
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(News report from Issue No. 238, published on July 2 2015)
JUNE 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan’s Central Bank has been steadily rebuilding its gold and foreign currency reserves since reaching a low in April, media reported. Last year Kyrgyzstan’s Central Bank spent frantically as it tried to prop up its falling currency.
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(News report from Issue No. 238, published on July 2 2015)
JULY 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s Central Bank said the percentage of non-performing loans held by banks had fallen from a peak of 33% to 13% because of a combination of tax breaks and state financing. It’s unclear exactly how these measures helped to reduce non-performing loans.
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(News report from Issue No. 238, published on July 2 2015)