Tag Archives: Kazakhstan

Doping pressure mounts on Team Astana

>>Cycling team is closely linked to Kazakhstan>>

JAN. 27 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The disgraced former cycling champion Lance Armstrong told the BBC in an interview that cycling, including Astana Pro Team, was riddled with doping.

Mr Armstrong, who had cycled for Astana Pro Team, said the sport’s governing body, the International Cycling Union (UCI), should ban Astana Pro Team. The UCI placed Astana Pro Team under probation in December after another case of doping emerged involving two team members.

The Astana Pro Team management has strongly denied the allegations of doping.
The whole row will be embarrassing, though, for Kazakh President Nazarbayev.

Samruk-Kazyna, the Kazakh investment fund, sponsors Astana Team Pro. The team wears the blue and yellow national colours and companies and teams carrying the Astana brand, the name Mr Nazarbayev gave to his new capital, are closely linked to Kazakh nationality.

On the same day that the BBC aired its interview with Mr Armstrong, the Astana Pro Team manager Alexander Vinokourov visited Mr Nazarbayev at the presidential palace in Astana, presenting him with a yellow jersey, symbol of last year’s victory in the Tour de France — the most prestigious bike ride in the world.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 216, published on Jan. 28 2015)

Don’t devalue again -leading Kazakh businessman

JAN. 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Nurlan Smagulov, head of the Astana Motors car dealer and an influential businessman, stepped into the debate over the Kazakh tenge. At a press conference, he said policymakers should not devalue the currency for the second time as this would undermine its credibility and knock consumer spending.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 216, published on Jan. 28 2015)

Weak rule of law hurting Kazakhstan -think tank

JAN. 27 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Washington-based Heritage Foundation said that weak rule of law in Kazakhstan had supressed its position in its global rankings on economic freedom. In this year’s ranking, Kazakhstan dropped six places to 69th in the list of 178 countries.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 216, published on Jan. 28 2015)

Air Astana faces a difficult year, says CEO

JAN. 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Air Astana CEO Peter Foster
said 2015 would be a tough year because of economic and political
turmoil across the region. His comments highlight the uncertainty
that businesses are facing. Last year, Air Astana increased its
passenger traffic by 3%. Profit rose by 35% from 2013, mainly
because of a drop in oil price.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 215, published on Jan. 21 2015)

EBRD downgrades Kazakh growth

JAN. 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — In new 2015 predictions, the
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said
Kazakhstan would grow by 1.5% this year, a sharp drop from the 5.1%
predicted in September. The EBRD downscaled Kazakhstan’s growth
estimates because of ongoing rouble and oil price falls.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 215, published on Jan. 21 2015)

Kazakh president summons econ chief for crisis talks

>>Nazarbayev summons his chief economic lieutenant for talks>>

JAN. 16 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakh president Nursultan
Nazarbayev summoned the head of Samruk Kazyna, the country’s
sovereign wealth fund, for crisis talks over the falling price of
oil and the drop in the value of the Russian rouble.

The meeting highlights just how worried Mr Nazarbayev and his
senior ministers are about the recent economic downturn. Most major
financial institutions now expect the Kazakh economy to grow by
only 1.5% this year, a relatively small amount.

When Mr Nazarbayev announced last year a new economic policy, he
aimed to enter the New Year with a Keynesian industrial programme
that would have injected billions into construction projects and
subsidies.

Currency depreciations and oil markets, however, have shattered the
plan.

After his meeting with Mr Nazarbayev, Umirzak Shukeyev, the Samruk
Kazyna chief, said: “The goal is to reduce administrative costs by
20% and investment engagements by 18%.”

This, then, is the opposite of what had been promised.

The most feared buzzwords on the streets from Almaty to Atyrau are
devaluation and austerity. Several consulting and investment firms
have forecast a devaluation in the first quarter. The research
branch of Kazakhstan’s second largest lender, Halyk Bank, told
Bloomberg that they deem a depreciation of the tenge as inevitable.

The leader of the National Business Association, Rakhim Oshakbayev
publicly asked the government to protect private companies from the
risk of devaluation (Jan. 20).

In Kazakhstan, the government is expected to act to reverse the
economic downturn but with no significant increase in hydrocarbon
and commodity output, its only option is to dig into the reserves
of the sovereign fund and hope for the best, or so it often seems.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 215, published on Jan. 21 2015)

IS threatens Central Asia stability, says report

NEW YORK, JAN. 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The radical group IS is recruiting heavily in Central Asia, the influential think tank International Crisis Group (ICG) wrote in a new report, a phenomena that could destabilise the region in the medium and long term.

In perhaps the most detailed assessment of the recruitment drive by IS in Central Asia so far, the ICG estimated that between 2,000 and 4,000 men and women had been attracted by IS propaganda to travel to Syria and fight for the radical group.

“Should a significant portion of these radicalised migrants return, they risk challenging security and stability throughout Central Asia,” ICG wrote in its 16-page report.

“Their [the five Central Asian states] security services — underfunded, poorly trained and inclined to resort to harsh methods to compensate for a lack of resources and skills — are unable to deal with a challenge as intricate as radical Islam.”

Among the incentives for Central Asians to enlist in IS ranks, the ICG points to three main triggers: The opportunity to join a religious cause abroad otherwise suppressed at home; the rejection of gloomy economic prospects; the chance to express repressed political views.

Other causes are outlined. The lack of a proper education with youth members of Islamic congregations resorting to unofficial Muslim training; the lack of social safety nets for women; the accessibility to Turkey, the major entry point for the northern battles in Syria.

The ICG argues that IS is reviving the violence among extremist groups in Central Asia as well. The ICG called for the enforcement of strict rules on terrorism and tighter security monitoring by the states in the region.

In the short-term at least, ICG wrote, preventative measures are essential for combating the IS recruitment.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 215, published on Jan. 21 2015)

ENDS
Copyright — The Conway Bulletin

Spain releases Ketebayev

JAN. 16 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Spanish authorities
released from detention Kazakh opposition figure Muratbek
Ketebayev. Kazakhstan wants Mr Ketebayev extradited to face
criminal charges, including rebellion. Reports said Spain had still
not made a decision on his extradition.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 215, published on Jan. 21 2015)

There will be no tenge devaluation, says CB

JAN. 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The market may have priced in
another devaluation but Kairat Kelimbetov, head of the Kazakh
Central Bank, said he would not allow fluctuations in the currency.
Mr Kelimbetov has been saying for months that despite the falling
Russian rouble and a drop in oil prices, the Kazakh tenge would not
devalue.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 215, published on Jan. 21 2015)

Kazakhstan and IS recruitment

>>IS have been recruiting heavily from Central Asia>>

JAN. 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan is desperate not
to get dragged into the debate over IS recruitment from Central
Asia.

Its intelligence services issued a rare statement denying that two
men murdered on a video last week were Kazakh. In the video the two
men spoke Russian and were accused of being members of the Russian
spy agencies. One man identified himself as coming from south
Kazakhstan.

The Kazakh intelligence services, though, said that this was not
the case.

In the IS video a young boy, who could be of Kazakh ethnicity,
shoots the two men in the head.

IS, a radical Islamic group based mainly in war-torn Syria,
recruits heavily from Central Asia and is a growing threat to the
region’s stability.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 215, published on Jan. 21 2015)