APRIL 11 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s Central Bank said the country’s economic health worsened, as the debt/GDP ratio grew from 72.4% in 2014 to 83% last year. The debt/GDP ratio is the key figure to watch as it is recognised as a key indicator of economic health. Like the rest of the region, Kazakhstan has been trying to fend off an economic downturn.
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(News report from Issue No. 276, published on April 15 2016)
APRIL 12 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Car makers in Kazakhstan said they are struggling to sell their new cars in the domestic market due to new registration fees. On Jan. 1, a new tax of 106,000 tenge ($317) was imposed on cars built up to three years earlier, while a 1m tenge ($3,170) fee was imposed on older cars. Industry data showed around 4,500 cars produced in the second half of 2015 have not sold.
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(News report from Issue No. 276, published on April 15 2016)
APRIL 13 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – OPEC, a club of oil exporting countries, and the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Kazakhstan’s oil output will decline this year. OPEC said Kazakh production will slow by 3.2% to 1.55m barrels/day. The EIA, which uses different parameters in its calculations, said it would fall 1.2% to 1.71m barrels/day.
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(News report from Issue No. 276, published on April 15 2016)
APRIL 8 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Setykazy Matayev, a senior figure in Kazakhstan’s media scene and the former head of President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s press office, was sent to hospital suffering from high blood pressure. He was arrested last month and charged with corruption. He is the the most high-profile journalist to be arrested during a crackdown by the authorities on media over the past few months. Analysts have said the crackdown could be linked to a drop in the economy.
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(News report from Issue No. 276, published on April 15 2016)
APRIL 10 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev flew to Tehran to meet with President Hassan Rouhani sign deals worth around $1b, giving Kazakhstan-Iran economic ties a major boost. Kazakhstan has been forthright at trying to boost economic ties with Iran since sanctions were relaxed earlier this year.
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(News report from Issue No. 276, published on April 15 2016)
APRIL 5 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Coal production in Kazakhstan could shrink by as much as 20% by 2040, Bolat Akchulakov, president of Kazenergy, an industry lobby group, said. Kazakhstan relies on coal for 66% of its energy consumption. A number of coal fired power plants are currently being phased out both in Kazakhstan and in Russia, the main destination of Kazakhstan’s coal exports.
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(News report from Issue No. 275, published on April 8 2016)
APRIL 7 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan-focused miner Central Asia Metals said copper production at its Kounrad project stood at 3,207 tonnes in the first quarter of the year. This is a 36.5% increase compared to the same period last year. The company said this increase was due to the completion of the first expansion of the SX-EW plant last spring.
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(News report from Issue No. 275, published on April 8 2016)
APRIL 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Automotive holding Allur Auto and Alatau Invest Capital agreed to form a partnership to expand the Kostanai car assembly plant and to create a national brand for Kazakh cars. Alatau is a new financial group owned by the eldest nephew of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kairat Satybaldy. Earlier in February, the company signed an agreement with Kaspi Bank and Baring Vostok to invest in the IT and financial sectors.
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(News report from Issue No. 275, published on April 8 2016)
APRIL 8 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Central Asia Metals continued to rally this week in London, establishing a steady positive trend since an all-time low of 124 pence in mid-January.
Its stock price closed at 171p on Thursday, up over a third for the week.
The company is also preparing for the presentation of the yearly results next Monday, which analysts expect to be positive.
“Central Asia Metals operates at a high margin and is thus less affected by low copper prices,” Martin Potts, mining analyst at FinnCap told The Bulletin. “It is an established business in Kazakhstan and it has already repaid all the money it has raised to its shareholders, something unique in this sector.”
In our chart above, we tracked just how closely Central Asia Metals shares and copper have been linked, but it is also possible to note a recent “decoupling” of the two since mid-March.
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(News report from Issue No. 275, published on April 8 2016)
APRIL 5 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Exports of agricultural products from Kazakhstan increased by 33% in 2015, Yeremek Kosherbayev, vice minister of agriculture said. Media didn’t report his reasons for the sharp increase but Kazakhstan has been investing heavily in boosting its efficiency in agriculture. One of its biggest exports, now, is wheat.
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(News report from Issue No. 275, published on April 8 2016)