JULY 9 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Funding for Kazakhstan’s healthcare service needs to be doubled or tripled, media quoted Almas Kurmanov, head of the budget at the ministry of health, as saying. Mr Kurmanov said Kazakhstan spends $254/person on health compared to an OECD average of $2,400.
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(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)
JULY 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kenes Rakishev bought an additional 2.61% stake in Kazkommertsbank from its founder and former chairman Nurzhan Subkhanberdin, further strengthening the Kazakh elite’s grip on one of the country’s largest banks.
The share purchase gives the 35-year-old Mr Rakishev, who is regarded as a trustee for more powerful members of the Kazakh elite and is best known for helping to buy a house in England from Prince Andrew in 2008, a 25.84% stake in the bank.
Samruk-Kazyna, Kazakhstan’s national welfare fund, owns 10.7% of the bank and an investment company called Alnair, which is also close to the Kazakh elite, owns a 28% stake in it.
The London-based Mr Subkhanberdin still controls around 32% of the bank but he has been gradually pushed out of Kazkommertsbank this year. His stake in the bank has dwindled and in March he was ousted as chairman.
Mr Subkhanberdin’s mistake had been to flirt with supporting Kazakhstan’s opposition.
In 2009 he wrote an open letter to Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev questioning the imprisonment of the former head of the Kazakh uranium company Kazatomprom, Moukhtar Dzhakishev on various corruption charges.
Earlier this year, the Kazakh government, through Mr Rakishev, forced Kazkommertsbank to buy the debt-ridden BTA Bank.
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(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)
JULY 6 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s new, low-cost domestic airline Qazaq Air will begin commercial flights on July 20, it said at its official launch in Astana.
Qazaq Air is a fully-owned subsidiary of Samruk-Kazyna, Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund, which will concentrate on flying less well served routes between regional cities across Kazakhstan.
At the launch party, the company director Blair Pollock said: “Many of the 12 routes on which the Q400 aircraft will operate are not currently served by any other carrier.”
The Kazakh government has made improving travel links between cities in this vast country a priority and the airline should improve business ties and trade between regional centres.
Qazaq Air said it had leased three Canadian Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 which can carry between 68 and 85 passengers, depending on the seating configuration
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(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)
JULY 6 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev celebrated his 75th birthday in a more subdued fashion than previous occasions, perhaps reflecting Kazakhstan’s recent economic struggles. Mr Nazarbayev has been Kazakh president since independence in 1991 but has not named a successor.
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(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)
JULY 6 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – BISHKEK — Kyrgyz president Almazbek Atambayev awarded Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev the Order of Manas (First Class), Kyrgyzstan’s highest honour, for helping to create the Eurasian Economic Union.
He flew to Astana to give Mr Nazarbayev the award on his 75th birthday, five days after the Kazakh leader ratified Kyrgyzstan’s accession into the Kremlin-led Eurasian Economic Union.
“We feel a strong fraternal support from the Republic of Kazakhstan,” Mr Atambayev said, according to media.
Toktogul Kakcheckeyev, an executive director at the Association of Political Scientists of Kyrgyzstan think tank in Bishkek, explained.
“The Manas award was given by Almazbek Atambayev to Nursultan Nazarbayev because of Nazarbayev’s efforts to develop regional cooperation in terms of Eurasian economic community,” he said. “Originally it was Nazarbayev’s idea to launch regional economic cooperation.”
In 1994, shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union in a speech in Moscow, Mr Nazarbayev spoke rather nostalgically of creating a Eurasian Union. This has now materialised, or, at least a version of that vision.
Still, some observers have said that Mr Atambayev’s award to Mr Nazarbayev was a brazen attempt to curry favour with the most powerful leader in Central Asia.
And Kyrgyzstan has form with this. The Kyrgyz parliament can be relied upon, almost every year, to nominate Mr Nazarbayev for a Nobel Peace Prize for giving up the nuclear weapons that Kazakhstan inherited after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.
Mr Nazarbayev is only the twelfth recipient of a First Class Order of Manas in its 19 year history.
Other recipients include Kofi Annan, the former UN Secretary- General.
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(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)
JULY 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Parcel delivery company DHL has signed a deal with Kazakhstan’s railway company Temir Zholy which it said would improve and increase freight transport between China and Europe. The deal highlights Kazakhstan’s growing prominence as a transport route between Europe and Asia.
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(News report from Issue No. 238, published on July 2 2015)
JUNE 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazmunaigaz, Kazakhstan’s state-owned oil and gas company, said it would sell half its stake in the Caspian Sea Kashagan oil field to Samruk-Kazyna, the Kazakh sovereign wealth fund.
This is a curious arrangement as Samruk-Kazyna actually owns Kazmunaigas. It may be a way for Kazmunaigas, which has been badly hit by the sharp drop in energy prices, to borrow cash cheaply.
According to a press release from the London Stock Exchange, Kazmunaigas is seeking the consent of the shareholders in the North Caspian Operating Company (NCOC) , the consortium which operates the Kashagan, to sell half of its 16.88% share to Samruk-Kazyna for approximately $4.7b.
“Samruk-Kazyna’s agreement to purchase the Kashagan Shares reflects the State’s strong support of KMG (Kazmunaigas), as a strategic national asset,” the statement said.
Part of the cash raised by the sale would be used to pay $2.2b Kazmunaigas owes in fees relating to its 2013 purchase of the Kashagan stake from US company ConocoPhillips.
Kazmunaigas said that the sale would come with an option to buy back the stake in Kashagan for the same price between 2016 and 2020.
NCOC declined to comment.
Kazmaunaigas had run up large debts, partly because of the oil price slump. Halyk Bank analyst Sabina Amangeldi said in a note last month that the company already has seven Eurobond issues outstanding worth a total of $8.8b.
She also noted that lower oil prices had knocked Kazmunaigas’ revenues by around a third and that profit had been wiped out.
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(News report from Issue No. 238, published on July 2 2015)
JULY 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Economists polled by Bloomberg News said Kazakhstan will be one of the top ten worst performing economies in 2015. Kazakhstan’s economy is expected to grow by 1.2% this year, down from an estimate of 3.6% in March.
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(News report from Issue No. 238, published on July 2 2015)
JULY 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazmunaigas, the Kazakh state oil and gas company, is trying for a third time to sell off three companies it owns in Romania, media reported quoting the Kazakh finance ministry. Kazmunaigas wants to sell Rominserv Valves, a valve manufacturer, SA Palplast, a plastic pipe maker and Global Security Systems which provides security guards. All three are currently owned by Rompetrol, a Kazmunaigas subsidiary.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 238, published on July 2 2015)
JUNE 27 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Possibly keen to pick up a few handy tips ahead of his own international exhibition in Astana in two years time, Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev visited the pavilions of Milan’s EXPO 2015.
Mr Nazarbayev and Italian PM Matteo Renzi toured the exhibition and then sat down for an official meeting where bilateral trade and diplomacy were discussed.
Media later reported that the two men had said they agreed bilateral deals worth $500m, although details were scant. Even so, the deals and the meeting highlighted the close trade and diplomatic links between the two countries.
Italian oil and gas company Eni is one of the biggest investors in Kazakhstan.
Mr Nazarbayev considers EXPO- 2017 in Astana an essential showpiece. He wants to promote Kazakhstan and his role in building the nation at EXPO- 2017.
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(News report from Issue No. 238, published on July 2 2015)