Tag Archives: economy

Consumer lending rises in Azerbaijan

JAN. 17 (The Conway Bulletin) — Consumer lending in Azerbaijan increased by 6% in 2018 compared to the previous year, the Central Bank said, the first annual rise since 2015. The rise is an important sign that consumer confidence is returning. Azerbaijan was heavily hit by an economic downturn from 2014, triggered by a drop in oil prices. One of the drivers of Azerbaijan’s economic decline was a high proportion of poor loans, often unrecoverable, to consumers.
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>>This story was first published in issue 397 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 20 2019

EBRD gives its largest loan to Uzbekistan

TASHKENT/JAN. 14 (The Conway Bulletin) — – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) loaned $240m to Uzbekenergo to modernise its Talimarjan gas power plant in the south of the country.

The loan will be spent on installing 90MW combined cycle gas turbines. It is the largest single investment by the EBRD in Uzbekistan. The EBRD only re-entered Uzbekistan last year, after a break of 10 years, when it became clear that President Shavkat Mirziyoyev was intent on opening up the country after years of isolation under the reclusive Islam Karimov.

“The investment will address a major issue for the region, namely the provision of uninterrupted and sustainable power supply, which will support economic growth and improve the wellbeing of the population,” the EBRD said in a statement.

The other joint funders on the project are the Asian Development Bank and the Uzbek Fund for Reconstruction and Development. The EBRD has invested a total of 1.3b euros in 70 projects in Uzbekistan.

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>>This story was first published in issue 397 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 20 2019

Uzbekistan secures $4b investments from Germany

JAN. 20 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev travelled to Berlin to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the culmination of an Uzbek-German business forum. At the forum, German firms pledged to invest 4b euros into various projects in Uzbekistan. The projects range from finance to engineering. Germany has been one of the main drivers of European Union investment in Uzbekistan since Mr Mirziyoyev took over the presidency in 2016.
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>>This story was first published in issue 397 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 20 2019

FlyDubai starts up flights to Tashkent

DEC. 22 (The Conway Bulletin) — UAE’s government-owned budget airline FlyDubai will start flying to Tashkent, another sign that the Uzbek tourist industry is booming. Uzbek officials announced the deal after meeting UAE officials. FlyDubai, which targets tourists, will take over the Dubai-Tashkent route from Emirates Airline, which is more business-focused.
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>>This story was first published in issue 396 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 11 2019

Car sales in Kazakhstan rise

DEC. 27 (The Conway Bulletin) — Car sales in Kazakhstan increased by 25.7% between January and November in 2018 compared to the same period in 2018, industry groups said. The data is more evidence that Kazakh consumers are gaining confidence after an economic downturn in 2015-17 triggered by a collapse in oil prices and recession in Russia. Of the 52, 467 cars sold during this period, nearly half were built in Kazakhstan.
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>>This story was first published in issue 396 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 11 2019

Oil shipments drop at Batumi

JAN. 3 (The Conway Bulletin) — Oil shipments from the Georgian Black Sea port of Batumi fell by 51.2% in 2018, Reuters reported by quoting an unnamed official at the terminal which is operated by Kazakh oil and gas company Kazmunaigas. Azerbaijan’s decision to push oil shipments through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline which it part-owns and a volume increase for the Caspian Pipeline Consortium from Kazakhstan to the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, are the main drivers of the drop-off at Batumi.
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>>This story was first published in issue 396 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 11 2019

Uzbekistan hopes for bumper investments in 2019

DEC. 26 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan hopes to attract $4.1b of investment in 2019, up by 71% from 2018, Shukhrat Vafayev, the deputy chairman of the State Investment Committee, told media. Mr Vafayev said that changes to the Uzbek tax regime since President Shavkat Mirziyoyev took over as leader in 2016, where one of the main reasons for the optimism. Alongside tourism and industry which are attracting major headlines, Mr Vafayev said that “another promising area is the processing of agricultural products and food production.”
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>>This story was first published in issue 396 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 11 2019

Kazakh energy minister calls for oil prices to be stabilised

DEC. 26 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakh energy minister Kanat Bozumayev said that he expected OPEC and other major oil exporters to work to stabilise oil prices at the start of this year after they dropped away steeply at the end of 2018 mainly because of oversupply. Oil is one of Kazakhstan’s main exports but it is not big enough to be a price-maker and instead has to follow the bigger energy producers’ lead and act as a price-taker.
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>>This story was first published in issue 396 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 11 2019

Armenia and Azerbaijan keep interest rates steady

DEC. 25/16 The Conway Bulletin) — Armenia and Azerbaijan both left their interest rates unchanged because of continued low inflation. Weak inflation has been a factor across the region since it recovered from a 2014-17 economic downturn.
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>>This story was first published in issue 396 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 11 2019

Platts expects ACG to continue to decline in 2019

DEC. 26 (The Conway Bulletin) — Platts the energy-specialist news service said it expected oil output at Azerbaijan’s Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) Caspian Sea field to continue to decline in 2019. ACG is critical to Azerbaijan’s oil production but has been on the decline for the past eight years or so despite BP, its operator, spending millions of dollars patching up its ageing infrastructure. Platts said it expected ACG to produce 510,000 barrels of oil per day in 2019, down from 530,000bpd in 2018.
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>>This story was first published in issue 396 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 11 2019