Tag Archives: Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan expects GDP to grow

SEPT. 1 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s GDP will grow marginally by 0.5% in 2016 and move back to a steadier growth pattern in 2017, Kuandyk Bishimbayev, minister of economy said. Mr Bishimbayev said that Kazakhstan’s GDP will grow by 1.9% in 2017. He also said that, with the expected start-up of the Kashagan oil project, oil production will jump 13.5% to 84m tonnes/year in 2017, back to 2013 levels. This should bode well for the economy.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 294, published on Sept. 2 2016)

ADB approves loan to Kazakhstan

SEPT. 1 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved a $240m loan to help Kazakhstan improve a 185-km highway around its northern Caspian Sea shore to Russia. The road is important to link Kazakhstan to Russia and the South Caucasus via land, giving it further access to European markets. The ADB said the road improvements will open up new trade and investment opportunities.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 294, published on Sept. 2 2016)

Beeline and Kcell join forces in Kazakhstan

AUG. 31 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kcell and Beeline, two of the largest mobile operators in Kazakhstan, signed a network sharing agreement that will allow their users to access 4G/LTE services across the country. Kazakhstan liberalised access to the 4G network earlier this year. Swedish Telia Company controls Kcell, while Russia’s VimpelCom owns Beeline.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 294, published on Sept. 2 2016)

Kazakhstan’s Halyk Bank sees profits rise

AUG. 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Halyk Bank, Kazakhstan’s second largest lender, posted a year-on-year net profit increase of over 20% at the end of Q2 because it had been able to charge higher interest fees on loans. Importantly, too, Halyk Bank also said that non-performing loans had dropped to 12% of their portfolio from 12.9% at the end of March.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 293, published on Aug. 29 2016)

Kazakh archaeologists find ancient pyramid

AUG. 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Archaeologists from the University of Karaganda, central Kazakhstan, said that they had discovered the remains of a pyramid used as a mausoleum for an ancient king or clan leader which may be 3,000 years old, media reported. If confirmed, the pyramid would be older than some Egyptian pyramids.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 293, published on Aug. 29 2016)

Athletes from C.Asia and S.Caucasus win medals at Rio Olympics

AUG. 29 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — At the Olympics in Rio, Uzbekistan won four gold medals, including three in boxing. Kazakhstan once again pulled in a decent haul, winning three golds, including a first ever swimming win, five silvers and nine bronzes. Tajikistan also won its first gold medal since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Dilshod Nazarov won gold in the hammer, becoming an instant national hero in Tajikistan. In the South Caucasus, Azerbaijan won a gold medal in taekwondo, Georgia won golds in wrestling and weightlifting and Armenia won a wrestling gold, its first for 20 years.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 293, published on Aug. 29 2016)

Kazakhstan frees opposition activist

AUG. 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan released on parole one of its most prominent opposition politicians from prison after almost four years, drawing praise but also demands to release more dissidents.

Vladimir Kozlov, head of the Alga! party, walked out of prison after Kazakhstan’s highest court decreed that he should be freed early. He had been the most high profile activist arrested after an oil workers’ strike in the western city of Zhanaozen turned into a riot with police which killed at least 15 people in December 2011 after a strike lasting several months.

He was sent to prison for 7-1/2 years for inciting social discord, although his supporters have said that he was only trying to help the oil workers promote their cause.

Speaking at a press conference after his release, Mr Kozlov said that pressure from the European Union and other human rights groups had led to his release.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty quoted Mr Kozlov as saying that the EU had helped him “remain a human being” while in prison,

And the EU put out a brief statement too.

“The release on parole of the prominent Kazakh activist Vladimir Kozlov, who was imprisoned following the Zhanaozen events of 2011, is positive news,” it said.

“Further steps should now follow, leading to the full rehabilitation and release of all those civil society activists currently detained or under restriction of movement in Kazakhstan, in line with the country’s international commitments.”

Human rights groups have criticised Kazakhstan for cracking down on media and opposition groups heavily over the past few years. The Kazakh government has accused Mr Kozlov and others of being linked to coup plots.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 293, published on Aug. 29 2016)

Kazakhstan expects delay in state asset IPO

AUG. 16 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan will wait until 2018 to start selling off state assets in what has been billed for years as the People’s IPO, Baljeet Kaur Grewal, managing director for portfolio investment at Samruk-Kazyna, the Kazakh sovereign wealth fund told Bloomberg in an interview. He said the fund wanted to wait for oil prices to pick up before selling various assets.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 293, published on Aug. 29 2016)

Trial of journalists begins in Kazakhstan

AUG. 21 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The trial of Seitkazy Matayev, head of Kazakhstan’s journalist union and his son, Asset, for embezzlement began. Mr Matayev had been the first press secretary to President Nursultan Nazarbayev in 1991 and he had been presumed to be above a crackdown on the media this year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 293, published on Aug. 29 2016)

Central Asian FMs meet in the US

AUG. 3 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Looking to boost the US’ regional profile, US Secretary of State John Kerry hosted a summit with all five foreign secretaries from Central Asia. Dubbed C5 +1, the meeting was a follow-up from its inaugural session in Samarkand last year. It’s important because the US has been accused of losing interest in the region since pulling its military out of Afghanistan in 2014.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 292, published on Aug. 12 2016)