MAY 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s economy minister, Yerbolat Dossayev, said the so-called People’s IPO would finally go ahead next month. The People’s IPO has been continually delayed. Mr Dossayev said the first round of sell offs of state assets would include subsidies of energy company Kazmunaigas and railway company Temir Zholy.
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(News report from Issue No. 183, published on May 7 2014)
MAY 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Inflation in Kyrgyzstan in the first three months of the year measured 7.1%, media quoted the Kyrgyz Central Bank as saying. The Central Bank said that a fall in the value of the Kyrgyz som, it fell in line with most currencies in Central Asia, had increased inflation above expectations.
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(News report from Issue No. 183, published on May 7 2014)
MAY 4 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Annualised inflation in Georgia in April was 3.4%, media quoted the Georgian statistics agency Geostat as saying. The main driver of inflation was food prices which measured nearly 8%. Prices in Georgia have increased since October last year, a relief for policy makers after years of deflation.
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(News report from Issue No. 183, published on May 7 2014)
ARSLANBOB/Kyrgyzstan, MAY 7 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — In rural Kyrgyzstan, walnuts are important. Ilhon sighed as he leaned in and explained the significance of the walnut to the local economy of this small village in the Jalalabad region, south Kyrgyzstan.Surrounding the village is a 60,000 hectare walnut forest, providing a crop of about 1,000 tonnes each year.
In a country as poor as Kyrgyzstan, walnut crops can make up around a third of the average annual salary. The walnut season also provides a trickle-down effect on employment.
As well as the farmers, who lease the state-owned land to collect the walnut, other people are employed to shell walnuts and drivers to transport it to local markets. Most of the walnuts are then sent to Turkey, Iran and Iraq.
Still, it is just seasonal labour and when the season finishes its time to find fresh work.
Just like most of Kyrgyzstan, Ilhon and his brother look to Russia for help.
They head north to find casual labour, sending home most of what they earn. It’s tough and the pay isn’t great, but at least is does pay.
“Life is more difficult in winter,” Ilhon said of the drop in employment once the walnut season ends. “There is very little work around Arslanbob. Many of the men here go to Russia.”
There is another problem for Ilhon and others living and working in the walnut forests of south Kyrgyzstan. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union the forests have been increasingly poorly managed. These forests are the largest walnut forests in the world but they are also under threat.”
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(News report from Issue No. 183, published on May 7 2014)
MAY 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Industrial output in Armenia fell by 2.8% in the first three months of 2014 compared to the same period in 2013, media reported quoting the National Statistics Service.
The statistics agency did not specify why industrial output had fallen.
Economist have warned that Armenia faces a difficult year. At the end of 2013 an IMF mission to Armenia said the economy faced major challenges.
“These include responding to the slowdown of growth in 2013, low private and foreign direct investment in recent years, and relatively high poverty and unemployment,” it said in a report.
This year Armenia has moved increasingly to position itself within Russia’s orbit. It has done this for two main reasons. Both strategically and economically it needs Russia’s support.
Armenia’s relative economic weakness is pushing it faster towards Russia.
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(News report from Issue No. 183, published on May 7 2014)
MAY 5 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has told Iranian businessmen that they should increase investments in neighbouring Armenia, media reported, underlining strengthening relations between the two countries. Mr Hassan made the comments during a meeting with Armenian foreign minister Edward Nalbandian who was visiting Tehran.
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(News report from Issue No. 183, published on May 7 2014)
APRIL 30 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The IMF has upgraded Uzbekistan’s economic growth rate to 7% in 2014 from 6.5% earlier forecast, media reported. It also said that inflation would creep up to about 11% from an earlier estimate of 10.4%. Inflation has boomed in Uzbekistan and poses a real risk to the economy..
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(News report from Issue No. 183, published on May 7 2014)
APRIL 29 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — For Western tourists bazaars in Central Asia are often quaint relics of bygone economies but for the local power elite they are strategic objects of political influence and profit.
This month, Tajik media reported efforts by state organs and affiliates of the ruling Rakhmon family to seize two large markets.
The larger of the two bazaars, just outside Dushanbe, was confiscated by a provincial court on April 21 following an investigation by anti-corruption authorities. It belonged to Muhiddin Kabiri, head of Tajikistan’s largest opposition party the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan.
A second bazaar, based in the country’s south-west Shahrtuz region, belonged to a local businessman.
Both bazaars employ over a thousand people. Moreover, Tajikistan’s bazaars are likely to grow in size and importance now the country is a member of the World Trade Organization — making them increasingly important strategic objectives.
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(News report from Issue No. 182, published on April 30 2014)
APRIL 24 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia’s foreign trade increased by 11.5% during the first three quarters of the year compared to the same period in 2013, the state’s statistics agency said. Compared to the first quarter of 2010, Georgia’s foreign trade is now nearly double. The figures highlight Georgia’s economic growth.
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(News report from Issue No. 182, published on April 30 2014)
APRIL 25 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenia’s state statistics agency released figures which showed that economic activity in the first three months of the year dropped by 0.2%, media reported. The biggest fall was in industrial output. Armenia’s economy is struggling with the after effects of the global economic crisis.
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(News report from Issue No. 182, published on April 30 2014)