NOV. 15 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Concluding its mission to Azerbaijan, the IMF said that the country’s economy was moving in the right direction although it needed to restructure its biggest bank, the state-owned International Bank of Azerbaijan.
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(News report from Issue No. 161, published on Nov. 20 2013)
NOV. 15 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan has made decent economic progress but more needs to be done to continue to encourage business to develop, the IMF said in a statement after it concluded an assessment of the country’s economy.
The IMF said in general it supported the Azerbaijani Central Bank’s plan to force banks to strengthen their capitalisation levels. It was concerned, though, about the health of the state-owned International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA).
“The mission calls for combining this capitalisation with the restructuring of this bank (the IBA) in line with internationally accepted practices,” the IMF said in a statement.
The IBA is so large and important to Azerbaijan’s banking sector, the IMF explained, that it needs to be reformed. Earlier this year, the IBA said it would increase its capitalisation levels to 500 million Manat (about $640 million).
In December 2012, the Fitch ratings agency downgraded the IBA’s credit rating because it said its capitalisation levels were too low.
Overall, the IMF said the Azerbaijani authorities were on the right track with reducing non-oil deficit levels.
“Azerbaijan’s near-term economic prospects are generally favourable, with overall gross domestic product growth projected at 5% in 2013 and 2014, following the successful stabilization of oil output,” the IMF concluded.
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(News report from Issue No. 161, published on Nov. 20 2013)
OCT. 23 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $200m loan to help build houses in rural Uzbekistan, media reported. ADB’s loan underscores the need for better housing outside Uzbekistan’s main cities. The loan is part of $500m tranche agreed between ADB and Uzbekistan in 2011.
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(News report from Issue No. 158, published on Oct. 30 2013)
OCT. 2 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The World Bank has approved a $53.25m loan to Azerbaijan’s agriculture sector, the head of its office in Baku Larisa Leshchenko told media. The loan will be used to improve agricultural businesses’ access to finance and to also modernise equipment. Azerbaijan has made boosting its agriculture sector a priority.
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(News report from Issue No. 155, published on Oct. 9 2013)
SEPT. 18 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s railway network modernisation plan is picking up speed.
Earlier this year, the World Bank said it would finance an upgrade to Azerbaijan’s rail network. Azerbaijani officials said an upgrade was vital to speed up the route, used to shift wagons full of goods from the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea.
One of the areas that needed attention was signalling. Now, Azerbaijan’s government has said it has awarded a contract worth $288m to a consortium including Canada’s Bombardier. Bombardier will install new signalling equipment along the 503km track running from Baku to Boyuk Kesik on the Georgian border. This is roughly 17% of Azerbaijan’s total railway track.
Media also reported that French train maker Alstom, and other companies, are looking to win business in Azerbaijan off the back of the rail modernisation plan.
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(News report from Issue No. 152, published on Sept. 18 2013)
JULY 22 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has given Azerbaijan’s AccessBank credit worth $50m media reported. AccessBank, set up in 2002, operates dozens of branches in Azerbaijan’s regions and gives loans to small and medium-sized businesses. AccessBank’s debt portfolio for agriculture businesses has grown in the last few years.
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(News report from Issue No. 144, published on July 22 2013)
JULY 22 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Two of the key core strengths of Britain’s Virgin Group and its founder Sir Richard Branson are self-publicity and business acumen. It may be bringing both of these strengths to the Kazakh telecoms market.
Virgin Group spans a handful of sectors including trains, aviation, banking, travel, health clubs and telecoms. In 2011, according to its website, Virgin Group employed 50,000 people across the world and earned revenues of about $21b.
Perhaps its biggest assets, though, are the Virgin brand and a sense of flair. Sir Richard set up Virgin in 1970 and its slanted, hand-written logo is now recognisable around the world.
Virgin Mobile Central and Eastern Europe was one of the British companies that signed deals with Kazakh businesses during a trip to Kazakhstan by British PM David Cameron earlier this month.
Launched in 2012, Virgin Mobile Central and Eastern Europe is currently only offering a mobile phone service in Poland. This, though, could change.
It may just have been a so-called memorandum of understanding with Kazakh Telecom but this is still significant as it could mean a Virgin branded broadband and telecoms business offering services to people in Kazakhstan. As an indication of Kazakhstan’s development, Virgin’s potential entry is interesting and, possibly, significant.
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(News report from Issue No. 144, published on July 22 2013)
MAY 28 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank (IDB) agreed to give Uzbekistan a $270m grant to buy two new Boeing airplanes for its national airline and to modernise its hydro-electric stations. The IDB, a multinational institution, has been one of Uzbekistan’s biggest donors in recent years.
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(News report from Issue No. 137, published on June 3 2013)
Nov. 9 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Local media quoted sources in the Uzbek government as saying that the Saudi Arabia-based Islamic Development Bank (IDB) will finance part of a $168m scheme to modernise two hydropower plants near Tashkent. The IDB has not confirmed the finance deal which some media said would total $100m.
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(News report from Issue No. 113, published on Nov. 16 2012)
Nov. 14 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Showing confidence in Georgia’s retail market, the EBRD said it had agreed to lend Smart Supermarkets, a relatively new chain of local convenience stores, $26m. The loan will be used to build a distribution centre and open 28 new shops across the country, mainly in residential areas.
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(News report from Issue No. 113, published on Nov. 16 2012)