Tag Archives: Kazakhstan

Banks to keep assets in Kazakh tenge

SEPT. 9 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s Central Bank said that it would ban domestic banks from keeping most of its cash overseas from next year.

The announcement is another move aimed at strengthening the local banking sector.

Kairat Kelimbetov, the Central Bank chief, said that banks currently kept most of their assets in foreign currency, undermining the tenge.

“We have taken appropriate action. Firstly, limiting the ability to work with derivative financial instruments at 30 per cent on the balance. Roughly speaking, not allowing to play with currency derivatives,” he said, according to the media.

One of the biggest challenges facing the Kazakh Central Bank currently is trying to stop a slide in the value of the tenge. It has already had to devalue the national currency by 20% earlier this year and has come under sustained pressure to devalue again.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 199, published on Sept. 10 2014)

Kazakh soldiers prepare for UN ops

SEPT. 5 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s military has chosen 20 soldiers to travel to Haiti, Western Sahara, Ivory Coast and Liberia on UN missions, media reported. These are the first UN missions that Kazakhstan has supported. They are designed to support its candidature to win a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 199, published on Sept. 10 2014)

Kazakhstan and Iran signed deals

SEPT. 9 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – ran and Kazakhstan have signed deals worth $500m at a joint business forum in Astana, media reported quoting the Kazakh ministry of investment and development. Trade between the two countries is booming, with transport links improving.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 199, published on Sept. 10 2014)

Kazakhstan-Iran rail link opening

SEPT. 9 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railway link will be opened shortly, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev was quoted by media as saying. The rail link between Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan and Iran has been touted as a major advance for trade between Iran and Central Asia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 199, published on Sept. 10 2014)

Kazakhstan and Russia to sign military deal

SEPT. 8 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russian president Vladimir Putin and Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev are expected to sign a deal soon that will allow the movement of arms between the two countries more easily, media reported. The agreement is designed to increase arms trade between Kazakhstan and Russia as well as deepen military integration.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 199, published on Sept. 10 2014)

Kazakhstan readies Eurobond

SEPT. 8 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan has hired Citi, JP Morgan and HSBC to arrange a potential new Eurobond, Reuters quoted sources close to the deal as saying. The sources told Reuters the Eurobond was due to be denominated in US dollars but didn’t put a value on it.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 199, published on Sept. 10 2014)

Tajikistan prepares to host SCO

SEPT. 10 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The 13th summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) will be held in Dushanbe on Sept. 11 – 12.

Russia and China lead the SCO, a group that has regional security and economic development at its core. The other members are Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

The summit is expected to focus on deepening security ties and the possibility of expanding the organisation to include Afghanistan, India, Mongolia and Pakistan by next year. On Aug. 24, the SCO held its largest ever joint military drills to date in China’s Inner Mongolia province.

With Russia accused of arming rebels in Ukraine and the US-led NATO planning to enlarge by including Australia as a member, enlargement of the SCO would come at a sensitive time. As the only regional organisation to include both Russia and China, the SCO’s profile has grown over the years. Moscow and Beijing appear, though, to have different views on the future of the group.

In Bishkek this summer, China promoted its Silk Road Economic belt concept. This concept, focused on infrastructure investment and trade protection, seems to run counter to Russia’s own Eurasian integration efforts via the protectionist, China-exclusive Eurasian Economic Union.

The Kremlin has also reportedly persistently blocked the development of an SCO bank, preferring the organisation to focus on security matters, where it is closer to parity with China.

Both are said to be cautious towards any expansion that might dilute their respective influences, but acknowledge the need for the SCO to grow in order to relevant.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 199, published on Sept. 10 2014)

Radioactive canister missing in Kazakhstan

SEPT. 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh security forces are searching for a canister of radioactive cesium 137 after it was lost while being transported in the western region of Mangistau, media reported. The canister was being transported by car — it’s unclear where to or why — when it was lost or stolen.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 198, published on Sept. 3 2014)

Kazakh-Uzbek fight in south town

AUG. 29 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Fighting between ethnic Kazakhs and ethnic Uzbeks in a village in the south of the country injured at least two people, media reported. The authorities quickly issued a statement denying that the fighting was motivated by ethnicity although media reports strongly suggested that this was the trigger.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 198, published on Sept. 3 2014)

Petrol supplies drop in Kazakhstan

AUG. 28 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Reports from the regions said that queues up to a kilometre-long have been forming outside petrol stations as motorist try to re-fuel their cars.

In the northern city of Uralsk only four of 11 petrol stations were serving motorists without vouchers.

A combination of low refining capacity while upgrades are made; the devaluation of the tenge currency, which has made imports more expensive; restrictions on the quantity of imports have reduced petrol supplies.

Officials have said that they are working to bring the situation under control but frustrations threaten to bubble over.

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazrbayev relies, to some degree, on the people becoming increasingly rich and comfortable for his popularity. If this starts to reduce, or become visibly impaired, his popularity may drop.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 198, published on Sept. 3 2014)

Petrol shortages have worsened in Kazakhstan over the past few months.