DEC. 17 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan has continued to invest its energy revenues aboard, media reported. It quoted the Central Bank’s website as saying that in the first three quarters of 2013, Azerbaijan had spent $8.8b abroad. Over the past couple of years Azerbaijan has invested in overseas property and currencies as a long-term investment strategy.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 165, published on Dec. 18 2013)
DEC. 16 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) plans to invest $500m into projects run by the Azerbaijani state over the next three years, media quoted the organisation’s representative in Baku, Olly Norojono, as saying. Mr Norojono also said that the ADB’s investment portfolio in Azerbaijan was currently $1.2b up from $500m in 2010.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 165, published on Dec. 18 2013)
DEC. 16 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Demand from Russia has doubled Georgia’s wine exports, media reported quoting the Georgian agriculture ministry. Russia lifted a ban on importing Georgian wine this year. Relations between the neighbours had dipped to breaking point under Georgia’ former President Mikheil Saakashvili but have since recovered.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 165, published on Dec. 18 2013)
DEC. 3 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s Central Bank plans to buy $500m-$600m of Asian securities as part of its investment portfolio, local media quoted the Bank’s deputy chairman Avtandil Babayev as saying. Azerbaijan has developed a reputation as a big spender on foreign markets over the past few years with property, equity and debt purchases.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 163, published on Dec. 4 2013)
DEC. 3 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s government increased the price of petrol by about a third, its first increase in seven years, media reported. It’s too early to say what impact the price rises will have on communities as they will come into force on Jan. 1 2014, but local media has already reported several small scale protests.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 163, published on Dec. 4 2013)
NOV. 25 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia has resumed sending tangerines to Russia after a seven-year gap, news organisations reported quoting Georgian officials. The resumption of fruit exports to Russia is another indication of the normalisation of Georgia- Russia relations after a brief war in 2008.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 162, published on Nov. 27 2013)
NOV. 11 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Hundreds of people in Armenia protested outside the PM’s office in Yerevan against a proposal for them to pay 5% to 10% of their salary into pension funds. Countries across the former Soviet Union are grappling with changing generous legacy pension systems.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 162, published on Nov. 27 2013)
NOV. 26 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — A third of the population of Armenia live in poverty, a survey by the Armenian national statistics office said. Most alarming for policy makers was data that showed poverty levels in Armenia were the same in 2012 as in 2008. Armenia’s economy has been slow to recover from the 2008/9 global financial crisis.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 162, published on Nov. 27 2013)
NOV. 21 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s parliament passed a tax rise on alcohol and cigarettes which will balance prices with Russia and Belarus, its partners in the Customs Union, but could also anger ordinary people.
President Nursultan Nazarbayev voiced his approval for a law on so-called luxury goods in October during a party congress and also called for higher wealth taxes.
Besides higher taxes for large houses and powerful cars, the law specifically targets alcohol and cigarettes, which Mr Nazarbayev called “evil passions”.
The law will double the excise duties on strong alcoholic beverages in 2014, progressively reaching in 2016 a level of 1,600 tenge (about $10.50), more than three times the current value. On cigarettes, the increase will be 30% every year.
Russia has limited the amount of spirits that can be transported across the borders of the Customs Union in order to avoid price dumping. In Kazakhstan prices and excise taxes on alcohol and cigarettes had been lower than in Russia and Belarus. The new tax rises should change this.
Parliamentarians also justify the law because they said it would curb smoking and excessive drinking.
Other analysts, though, said increased prices could just push alcohol consumption underground and increase smuggling.
More tax increases for Kazakhstan’s wealthy are expected in the future. In the same speech in October that Mr Nazarbayev called for an increase in taxes on property, alcohol and cigarettes, he also called for a rise in income tax for the rich.
“Now when the wealthy class has expanded they can and should contribute towards social responsibility,” he said. “In our country a millionaire and a worker pay the same 10% income tax. We should think about it.”
Watch this space.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 162, published on Nov. 27 2013)
NOV. 15 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s new Central Bank chief, Kairat Kelimbetov, said he wanted to move the Bank to Astana from Almaty. Mr Kelimbetov replaced the independent-minded Grigory Marchenko as the Central Bank chief in October. Reports have said Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev wants the Central Bank in Astana.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 161, published on Nov. 20 2013)