NOV. 18 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The head of Kazakhstan’s National Security Council, Nurtai Abyakyev, said there were over 300 Kazakhs, half of them women, fighting in Syria and Iraq for the extremist group Islamic State. Policy makers in Central Asia are increasingly worried about how easily Islamic State has recruited people from the region.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 209, published on Nov.19 2014)
NOV. 15 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Samruk-Kazyna, Kazakhstan’s national investment fund, has signed a $40m deal to sponsor the shirts of the top Istanbul football club Galatasaray, Turkish media reported. With the Kazakh economy under increased pressure, economists and ordinary Kazakhs may question the worth of the deal.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 209, published on Nov.19 2014)
NOV. 12 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Looking to reduce the threat of sabotage, Russia’s energy ministry asked Kazakhstan to use a pipeline through Ukraine to export its crude oil.
The offer was first made in September, but was only reported by Reuters this month when the state-owned energy transport company, KazTransOil, called for local companies to participate in the bid. Although volumes have not yet been agreed, the agreement should allow Kazakh oil to run through the Druzhba (friendship) pipeline, built in 1964, whose Southern branch terminates in Hungary and the Czech Republic.
By agreeing to help fill the Druzhba pipeline, Kazakhstan is stepping directly into the ongoing civil war in Ukraine and the surrounding proxy conflict between the West and Russia.
For Russia, the benefits are fairly obvious. It wants to retain some use for the major Druzhba pipeline and would be able to charge Kazakhstan rent for using it. Russia would also reduce its risk exposure to the pipeline.
For Kazakhstan, the benefits are less obvious. Taking on the route is a major geopolitical headache.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 209, published on Nov.19 2014)
NOV. 19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – In Kazakhstan, November 15 is the Day of the National Currency, a little-known holiday for workers in the financial sector.
With the Kazakh tenge under pressure again despite a 20% devaluation earlier this year, they and the national currency will be grateful for the rest.
The tenge was born in 1993, after Kazakhstan’s independence from the Soviet Union.
It had a bumpy ride with initial inflation, matching concerns about the viability of an independent Kazakhstan. The exchange rate against the dollar jumped from an initial 4.75 to 35 within two months.
A dollar peg provided some stability — even if it was shaky — for the tenge during the second half of the 1990s but the Russian and Asian crises forced a new market- driven devaluation. Between April and September 1999, the tenge lost one third of its value against the greenback.
A corner, though, was turned at the start of the 21st century and with Kazakhstan maturing as a country so did its currency. Fiscal responsibility helped keep down inflation in the early 2000s, oil prices slowly rose, giving Kazakhstan’s fledging energy sector a boost.
Then came two devaluations of 20%. The first in Feb. 2009 and the second five years later.
With the US Federal Reserve easing its policy of cheap money and preparing to raise interest rates, pressure on emerging currencies, including the tenge, is likely to increase.
Aged 21, the tenge has already had an eventful existence.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 209, published on Nov.19 2014)
NOV. 12 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Italian energy major ENI has started to hand out the first contracts to build a shipyard at Kuryk on Kazakhstan’s Caspian Sea coast. The shipyard is designed to increase ship building capacity and generate jobs. It was announced as a joint-venture with KazMunaiGaz last year, when the Kazakh economy looked stronger.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 209, published on Nov.19 2014)
NOV. 7 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kairat Kelimbetov, head of the Kazakh Central Bank, said the tenge currency would not be devalued for at least three years. The comments, made at a conference in Almaty, were the strongest indicator yet that, despite a falling rouble, the tenge would not devalue for the second time this year.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 208, published on Nov.12 2014)
NOV. 7 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan will donate $100m to Kyrgyzstan, Kyrgyz president Almazbek Atambayev said during a trip to Astana to sign a new electricity supply deal. Mr Atambayev described the aid to Kyrgyzstan as can act of fraternal support from Kazakhstan.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 208, published on Nov.12 2014)
NOV. 5 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Luxury carmaker Rolls Royce has opened its first showroom in Kazakhstan, media reported, underlining how attractive the country still is for high-end goods despite a recent downturn in the economy. Rolls Royce is owned by Germany’s BMW and joins most other carmakers with a showroom in Almaty.
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(News report from Issue No. 208, published on Nov.12 2014)
NOV. 5 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Replacing leaky pipes at the Kashagan oil field in the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea will cost around $3b, Reuters reported quoting a senior Kazakh official. Kashagan was to be the project that propelled Kazakhstan into the top tier of global energy suppliers instead it has run hugely over budget and time.
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(News report from Issue No. 208, published on Nov.12 2014)
NOV. 8 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Protests continued across parts of Kazakhstan over petrol shortages. One protest, captured in a photo essay on the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty website showed four men pulling a Soviet-era car to a petrol station near Almaty with a donkey cart.
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(News report from Issue No. 208, published on Nov.12 2014)