Tag Archives: economy

Kyrgyzstan to transfer Chinese factories

MAY 22 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan’s foreign minister Yerlan Abdyldayev said he is negotiating the transfer of several Chinese factories to the Central Asian country over the next few years. Mr Abyldayev sees this development as a potential boost for Kyrgyzstan’s industrialisation. Kyrgyzstan’s economy is heavily reliant on remittances from abroad, which have shrunk in the past 18 months due to a recession in Russia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 282, published on May 27 2016)

EBRD to issue bond to Azerbaijan’s economy

MAY 25 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The EBRD is ready to issue a manat- denominated bond to help de-dollarise Azerbaijan’s economy, the Bank’s President, Sir Suma Chakra- barti, said. While the amount of the issue was not disclosed, Sir Suma said the bond will be sold within Azerbaijan to boost the local currency’s credibility.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 282, published on May 27 2016)

Armenian exports grow

MAY 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Trade turnover grew in Armenia during the first four months of 2016, compared to the previous year. Exports grew by 21.7% to $513m and imports grew by 18.4% to $1.2b. Importantly, exports to Russia doubled in the first two months of the year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 282, published on May 27 2016)

Kazakh minister comment triggers diplomatic row

BISHKEK, MAY 23 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — A comment about Kyrgyz women cleaning lavatories in Moscow by Kazakhstan’s minister of culture, Arystanbek Mukhamediuly, hit a raw nerve with Kyrgyzstan and triggered a diplomatic row.

In comments to media, Mr Mukhamediuly said Kyrgyz women cleaning lavatories in Moscow reflected poorly on Kyrgyzstan.

“Every time I fly to Moscow and other cities I see that young Kyrgyz ladies, our neighbours, are cleaning toilets,” he said. “It hurts me, as I see these young creatures who had to leave Kyrgyzstan because of unemployment and the absence of opportunities.”

Thousands of people leave Kyrgyzstan each year to find work in Russia and send back remittances. It is a system that spans Central Asia.

And both the Kyrgyz government, which sent an official note of protest to the Kazakh embassy, and ordinary Kyrgyz took umbrage at Mr Mukhamediuly’s comments.

In Bishkek Ulukbek, 20, said the comments had been disrespectful. “As a high-rank official, he should not have talked about our migrants,” he said.

Some others, though, felt that the Kazakh minister had made a good point. “I do not think that he was wrong about us, thousands of my fellow citizens have to work in Russia to earn some money,” said Bolot, 42. “We should blame our government and our president as it is their fault.”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 282, published on May 27 2016)

GM Uzbekistan to stop selling cars to Russia

MAY 24 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Life.ru, a Russian newspaper, said that GM Uzbekistan might soon stop selling its cars to Russia, as the company’s distributor in Voronezh is on the brink of bankruptcy. GM Uzbekistan, a joint venture between US-based GM and state owned UzAvtosanoat, faced problems last month, when a corruption case hit its top managers and slowed car exports to Russia. It is one of the most important industrial units in Uzbekistan outside the oil and gas sector.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 282, published on May 27 2016)

Labour market in Kazakhstan shrinks by 5%

MAY 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The number of employed people in Kazakhstan fell by 5% to 3.4m, the sharpest fall in recent years, signalling just how hard the economic crisis has hit the country. Unemployment data is unreliable in Kazakhstan, as the statistics can be manipulated. The data is more evidence of the impact of the economic downturn on lives of ordinary Kazakhs. Protests have broken out across Kazakhstan over the past few weeks. These started as protests against a land reform and have now morphed into wider protests against the government.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 282, published on May 27 2016)

Kazakhstan to receive loan from World Bank

MAY 26 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s Parliament ratified an agreement to receive a $1b loan from the World Bank’s International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, a cash injection that the government will use to pay for expenses in 2016. Kazakhstan’s finance ministry and the IBRD had agreed on the loan on May 11.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 282, published on May 27 2016)

IMF forecasts Kazakh economy

MAY 24 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Christine Lagarde, managing director of the IMF, said that Kazakhstan has to embark on a series of institutional reforms and deepen regional integration to face the challenges posed by sustained low oil prices. Ms Lagarde spoke from Astana, where she met President Nursultan Nazarbayev and senior government officials. Ms Lagarde also praised the ditching of the tenge’s US dollar peg last year.

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(News report from Issue No. 282, published on May 27 2016)

Kazakhstan’s GDP shrinks

MAY 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s GDP shrank by 0.2% in the first quarter of 2016, the first dip in seven years, according to the Statistics Committee. Trade, telecoms, and industrial production slowed significantly. Analysts at Halyk Finance forecast that Kazakhstan’s GDP will grow by just 0.2% this year, the lowest growth since the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. Kazakhstan, like the rest of the region, is struggling to deal with the knock on effects of a recession in Russia and collapse in oil prices.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 281, published on May 20 2016)

Ex-Kazakh minister to head Baiterek

MAY 17 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Former Kazakh minister of economy Yerbolat Dossayev took the post of chairman of Baiterek, a state-owned holding that manages several financial vehicles. This is effectively a job swap. Mr Dossayev replaces Kuandyk Bishimbayev at Baiterek. Earlier this month Mr Bishimbayev was made the minister of economy. Mr Dossayev resigned as economy minister after protests over planned changes to the land code spread across the country earlier this month.

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(News report from Issue No. 281, published on May 20 2016)