Tag Archives: economy

Armenia authorities worry about electricity

JULY 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Concerned about possible unrest connected with electricity price increases, Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan has ordered his policy chiefs to investigate whether it can soften the price rises for less well-off families, media reported.

Last month Armenia announced that it would increase the price for electricity by 10% form Aug. 1, its first price increase in two years.

Opposition politicians have said that the price increase will trigger inflation across the country and that this is just the first of several price planned price rises.

Armenia’s government has already had to negotiate through a difficult year.

A government resigned because of public unhappiness over its pension reform plans, economic growth estimates have been downgraded because of sanctions on Russia and now an electricity price increase threatens to erode the government’s popularity further.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 192, published on July 9 2014)

House prices rise 21% in Kazakhstan

JULY 8 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The cost of buying a home in Kazakhstan continues to rise. The latest figures from the national statistics agency showed house prices had increased by 21% in the first half of the year compared to the same period in 2014. Policymakers worry that the Kazakh housing market is hitting a bubble.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 192, published on July 9 2014)

Prices fall in Georgia

JULY 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Inflation in Georgia fell 0.9% from May to June, the national statistics agency reported. The biggest fall was in food and non-alcoholic drinks. The South Caucasus have seen a drop in overall prices over the last few months.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 192, published on July 9 2014)

Armenia jewellery production falls

JULY 8 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – More bad news for Armenia’s economy. Quoting the state’s statistics agency, media reported that jewellery production in Armenia had fallen by a third this year between January and May. It did not say why production had fallen although sanctions on Russia have impacted Armenia’s economy.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 192, published on July 9 2014)

Chinese firm boosts Tajik cement output

JULY 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – An official at the Tajik ministry for industry told the Asia Plus news agency that the country was a step closer to cement self-sufficiency thanks largely to the work of Huaksin Gayur Cement, a factory completed last year that can produce 1m tonnes of cement annually.

That figure dwarfs the productive capacity of national champion Tajik Cement, which produces four or five times less. Tajikistan consumes 1.5m tonnes of cement per year and imports from Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Iran and Russia.

The 75% Chinese-owned enterprise in the capital Dushanbe is one of several key Chinese investments to have popped up in Tajikistan over the last year. In addition to building heating plants for Dushanbe and Tajikistan’s second city, Khujand, China has begun construction of an oil refinery in Khatlon province that will almost meet Tajikistan’s domestic fuel needs.

Factory-by-factory, Beijing is also easing the employment crisis in the world’s most remittance-dependent country. Huaksin Gayur Cement has provided over 400 local jobs. The Khatlon refinery will provide a similar number.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 192, published on July 9 2014)

China’s investment surge in impoverished Tajikistan is beginning to show results.

Kazakh credit service improved

JULY 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Kazakh authorities want to improve the credit rating service by allowing people to challenge ratings they consider to be wrong. Credit is an important issue in Kazakhstan where banks are trying to control portfolios carrying some of the highest proportion of bad debt in the world.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 192, published on July 9 2014)

Turkmenistan links Iran-Kazakhstan

JULY 7 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan has completed a 700km stretch of railway linking Iran and Kazakhstan, media reported quoting officials. The railway, which runs through the Karakum Desert, is another important exit route for goods and oil being exported out of Central Asia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 192, published on July 9 2014)

Azerbaijan’s monetary base grows

JULY 4 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s monetary base has grown by 11.5% in the past year, media reported quoting the Central Bank. Measuring a country’s monetary base is important to evaluate its financial stability.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 192, published on July 9 2014)

EaEU membership promises cheaper mortgages for Kyrgyz

JULY 1 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Speaking at a ceremony where government staff received free housing, Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev said that $100m of a $1.2b fund from Russia designated for Kyrgyzstan’s Customs Union entry would go towards a pot for cheap credit for citizens looking to buy homes.

“Having a roof over your head means having freedom and happiness,” said Atambayev at the ceremony. Kyrgyzstan may formally enter the economic alliance, which is set to become the Eurasian Economic Union, as early as autumn this year.

Housing is a politicised issue in Kyrgyzstan, with illegal land grabs affecting the country’s two main cities, Bishkek and Osh. Poor rural migrants have formed new settlements, often unconnected to municipal services like electricity, stretching for miles beyond both cities.

The Customs Union is also a highly politicised issue and Mr Atambayev has been at pains to emphasis the benefits of tighter relations with Russia and the joint Kyrgyz-Russian fund. With a start-up capital of $500 million in Russian credits, the fund has been heralded as a means to strengthen Kyrgyzstan’s industrial capacity and move it away from an economic model structured on re-exporting cheap Chinese goods.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 190, published on July 2 2014)

Tajik migrant centre established

JULY 1 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Highlighting Kazakhstan’s regional economic pull, the authorities have decided to set up a centre to deal with the problems of Tajik migrant workers, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported. After Russia, Kazakhstan is the most popular destination for Tajik migrant workers.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 190, published on July 2 2014)