Tag Archives: economy

Domestic oil consumption grows in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan

JUNE 17 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The figures in the BP Statistical Review of World Energy can be dry but the stories behind the figures are important.

The 2013 edition is an important barometer for the energy-centric economies in Central Asia and the South Caucasus. The most telling figure for the region in this year’s edition of the review was that oil consumption in Kazakhstan grew by over 10% in 2012.

This is a large jump. In the countries covered in the review only Israel’s oil consumption increased at a higher rate. The global rise in oil consumption in 2012 was 0.9%.

The increase reflects Kazakhstan’s emergence from a sharp economic retraction triggered by the global crisis of 2008/9 when oil consumption fell.

Last year Kazakhstan, with a population of 17m, consumed 265,000 barrels of oil per day. By comparison, Uzbekistan, population 29.5m, consumed 82,000 barrels/day and Turkmenistan, population 5m, consumed 100,000 barrels/day.

Across the Caspian Sea, BP reported that Azerbaijan, population 9.3m, consumed 93,000 barrels of oil per day, a jump of 5.4%. This rise in Azerbaijan’s oil consumption, although not as big as Kazakhstan’s leap, still shows an increase in economic activity.

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(News report from Issue No. 139, published on June 17 2013)

Dollars fuel Uzbekistan’s black market

TASHKENT/Uzbekistan, JUNE 10 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The black market currency traders in Taskhent’s bazaars are hardly inconspicuous.

“Dollars, dollars. Russian roubles,” they say.

Huge wads of cash change hands as people exchange dollars for Uzbek sums. The black market currency trade in Uzbekistan is big business and well established.

With the largest note worth a mere 1,000 sum (roughly 50 cents), the piles of money can be hefty. The trade is visible, but the police in Tashkent’s bazaars don’t step in; they’re taking a cut.

This currency black market has traditionally offered better rates than the banks. Exchanging $1,000 legally will give you about 2 billion sum, while on the black market you’ll receive around 2.7 billion sum.

Since February, the Uzbek government has banned people from buying cash dollars legally at all. Those needing hard currency must deposit money on debit cards which they can only use abroad.

When this ban on buying dollars came into force it sparked wild black market rate fluctuations and speculation that the government was out to smash this lucrative illegal trade. Such talk was short-lived, however, and the shadowy forces controlling the black market made a fortune on the exchange rate fluctuations.

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(News report from Issue No. 138, published on June 10 2013)

MTS sells its assets in Uzbekistan

JUNE 3 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Uzbek government announced that Russian mobile operator MTS was selling its assets in Uzbekistan for roughly $300m, media reported. Last year the Uzbek government accused MTS’s local subsidiary Uzdunrobita of tax dodging and suspended its operations. MTS said the allegations were false.

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(News report from Issue No. 138, published on June 10 2013)

Kazakhstan cuts national budget

JUNE 6 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s parliament reduced the 2013 state budget by 4% because of low prices for metal and other mining exports. Metals have become an important part of Kazakhstan’s export earnings over the past few years but a global recession and sanctions against Iran, previously a major customer, have hit earnings.

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(News report from Issue No. 138, published on June 10 2013)

Kazakhstan scraps grain silo in Iran

MAY 31 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan has scrapped a plan to build a grain silo in Iran, media reported quoting an official at the Kazakh agriculture ministry. Kazakhstan is one of the world’s biggest grain producers and Iran is one of its biggest markets. The Kazakh agriculture ministry blamed political instability in Iran for pulling the plan.

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(News report from Issue No. 137, published on June 3 2013)

Locust outbreak in Kazakhstan

MAY 30 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s ministry of agriculture warned that a large plague of locusts was likely to infest parts of north and west Kazakhstan. The ministry’s press release said serious locust plagues were cyclical and that the last major infestation was in 2000.

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(News report from Issue No. 137, published on June 3 2013)

Kazakhstan boosts gold reserves

MAY 27 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan boosted its gold reserves for the seventh month in a row despite falling prices, Bloomberg news reported. Kazakhstan’s stated policy is to buy all the gold produced in the country. According to data, the central bank now holds 125.5 tonnes of gold, up 8.9% this year. In 2012, it boosted gold reserves by 41%.

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(News report from Issue No. 137, published on June 3 2013)

Emergency in Kyrgyzstan after Kumtor protest

MAY 31 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Kyrgyz authorities declared a state of emergency around the Kumtor gold mine in the east of the country after thousands of protesters demanding more financial benefits clashed with police. The Kumtor gold mine, Kyrgyzstan’s biggest industrial project, is owned by Toronto-listed Centerra Gold. The Kyrgyz government owns a 33% stake in Centerra Gold.

(News report from Issue No. 137, published on June 3 2013)

Kyrgyzstan to join Customs Union

MAY 29 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — At a meeting of the Russia-led Eurasian Customs Union in Astana, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev confirmed that Kyrgyzstan would join the group by 2015. Kyrgyzstan has been talking about joining the union, which includes Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus, for the past year. Ukraine has been granted observer status.

(News report from Issue No. 137, published on June 3 2013)

Kazakhstan creates new, symbolic holding

MAY 27 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — It certainly sounds grand. Baiterek, the name for the new Kazakh national holding company, means earth-tree, a mythological tree connecting the inner Earth, the human-inhabited surface of the planet and the heavens.

On May 27, the Kazakh government said it planned to set up a new company, Baiterek, to hold some of the nation’s assets. It’s still, though, not entirely clear what specific role Baiterek will play.

According to media reports, Baiterek will hold stakes in various national companies and work with foreign investors on innovation projects.

Names are important in Kazakhstan and the symbolism of calling the new company Baiterek is difficult to miss.

Baiterek also holds greater resonance in Kazakhstan as the name for the tower at the centre of Astana, a symbol of a growing, proud nation.

Baiterek, the holding company not the tower, is probably one to watch.

(News report from Issue No. 137, published on June 3 2013)