MARCH 18 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Highlighting nepotism in Tajik officialdom, Ashraf Gulov, the son-in-law of President Emonali Rakhmon, has been made head of the state Tax Committee’s internal audit department, media reported.
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(News report from Issue No. 176, published on March 19 2014)
MARCH 12 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The impact of Kazakhstan’s 20% currency devaluation last month is beginning to filter through to business.
Kazakh senator Mikhail Bortnik said that unless JSC International Airport Aktau could restructure its dollar-denominated debt, it would go bankrupt.
JSC International Airport Aktau, which under a deal with Mangistau regional government is owned by Turkish company ATM until 2025, has re-built Aktau airport’s passenger terminal and runway over the last few years.
It is now Kazakhstan’s third busiest airport, behind Almaty and Astana, and hosts flights from Baku, Kiev, Moscow and central Europe.
But after February’s tenge devaluation the $47m debt that Mangistau regional government took on to re-build the airport from the state-run Development Bank of Kazakhstan (DBK) has become 20% more expensive to service.
The problem for the DBK is that if it agrees to restructure the Aktau airport debt, it may have to restructure several other company debts too.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 176, published on March 19 2014)
MARCH 18 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The third government coalition of Kyrgyzstan’s relatively young parliamentary democracy collapsed after the Ata-Meken faction walked out, accusing PM Jantoro Satybaldiev of corruption.
The coalition collapse ends Mr Satybaldiev’s premiership and throws up questions over Kyrgyzstan’s negotiations with Canada’s Centerra Gold over ownership of the Kumtor Gold mine — worth roughly 10% of Kyrgyz GDP. Mr Satybaldiev has stood up to demands to nationalise the mine and earlier this year negotiated a new equity deal. It’s unclear if that deal will still stand after his exit.
The three-party coalition had ruled Kyrgyzstan since September 2012 but a furore over the early release from jail of a Chechen crime baron and accusations that Mr Satybaldiev personally profited from the rebuilding of the south of the country after riots in 2010 have dogged his premiership.
The economy, too, has limped along, frustrating many.
Just how the coalition collapse will affect President Almazbek Atambayev reminds to be seen. He may have to call a parliamentary election to form a new government. A change in Kyrgyzstan’s constitution handed it a powerful parliament in October 2010.
One thing is certain, though, the latest government collapse highlights how politically unstable Kyrgyzstan is.
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(News report from Issue No. 176, published on March 19 2014)
MARCH 17 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Between 2009 and 2013 Azerbaijan increased by nearly four times the amount of arms it imported, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute reported. Azerbaijan has been spending profits from energy sales on re-arming. It is still officially at war with Armenia over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
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(News report from Issue No. 176, published on March 19 2014)
MARCH 14 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — It’s not just Western mining companies in Kyrgyzstan that have come under pressure to pay extra fines. Kyrgyz media reported that the local authorities in northern Kyrgyzstan want the Chinese-run Taldy Bulak Levoberezhni gold mine to pay $143m every year for environmental damage. Chinese firms are generally unpopular in Kyrgyzstan.
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(News report from Issue No. 176, published on March 19 2014)
MARCH 12 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Looking to boost tourism, and with its own political agenda in mind, Armenia has hired New York-based GK Brand and Toronto-based Cundari Group to re-brand its sovereign image.
The Armenian government wants to launch a new logo and business plan next year that will help draw in both businesses and tourists.
For Armenia, 2015 is an historically important year as it marks the 100th anniversary of what it has described as a genocide perpetrated against it by Turkish forces.
It says that 1.5m Armenians died when Ottoman Turks attacked them and drove them out of their homes in eastern Turkey in 1915. Turkey denies a genocide but has said that many were killed in partisan fighting.
Armenia is placing an emphasis on its culture, its churches and monasteries for its re-brand but there will also be plenty of political intent.
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(News report from Issue No. 176, published on March 19 2014)
MARCH 17 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kenes Rakishev, the high-profile son-in-law of Astana mayor Imangali Tasmagambetov, has been appointed director at Kazakhstan Engineering . Kazakhstan Engineering is owned by Kazakh sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna. It mainly works with the ministry of defence to maintain military equipment
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 176, published on March 19 2014)
MARCH 5 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Acting as a peacemaker, the Aktobe regional government in north-west Kazakhstan stepped in to mediate in a labour dispute at an oil field operated by China’s state-run energy company CNPC.
The move highlights what appears to be Kazakhstan’s preferred policy when strikes are threatened — to appease labour unions rather than antagonise.
Kazakhstan is desperate to avoid a repeat of an oil workers’ strike in the western oil town of Zhanaozen in 2011 which ended in violence that killed at least 15 people.
Kazakh workers at CNPC AktobeMunaiGas say that they are treated unfairly, paid less and live in worse conditions compared to their Chinese counterparts.
This is a not a new complaint and, although China is a key energy client, Kazakhstan has pushed to improve worker conditions at Chinese companies. And this was no exception.
“The Commission recommended that managers improve the system of remuneration and create conditions for the production in accordance with labour laws,” the Aktobe government said in a statement.
Importantly sources in Aktobe said the threatened strike now appears to be on hold.
CNPC AktobeMunaiGas is one of Kazakhstan biggest oil producers, producing around 6m tonnes each year.
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(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)
MARCH 11 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan will increase export duty on oil by 33% to $80 per tonne from April 1 to boost budget revenues, economy minister Yerbolat Dossayev said. Kazakhstan may be using cash raised through the oil export tariff to bolster its economy after devaluing its currency by 20% in February.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)
MARCH 5 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — According to the Uzmetronom.uz website, many of the statistics published by the state agency are incorrect. It quoted independent economists saying that the government uses favourable data to inflate its achievements. Uzbekistan’s has been reporting a booming economy despite apparent stresses in the system.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)