Tag Archives: Kyrgyzstan

Stock Market: Tethys, Centerra Gold

APRIL 6 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Shares in oil producer Tethys traded up at 1.73% on Monday despite full year results showing that its revenues from oil and gas sales had fallen by 47% to $11.7m.

It blamed the drop in revenue on the devaluation of the tenge in the second half of 2015 and a drop in oil output. Tethys sells most of its production on the domestic Kazakh market.

Despite the drop in revenues, Tethys said that its losses for 2016 were actually smaller than its losses in 2015, perhaps driving the price up 26% on the London Stock Exchange. Tethys if one of the region’s most illiquid stocks.

Most of the savings came in tight cost-cutting in administrative issues. It said that losses for 2016 were $46.9m compared to $74.6m in 2015. Tethys is pulling out of a project with China’s CNPC and France’s Total in Tajikistan because it couldn’t keep up with its call payments. It is also locked in a commercial dispute in Kazakhstan which has meant that the bank accounts of its subsidiary have been frozen.

Despite hitting a 6-month high of C$7.65, analysts have been lining up to give Centerra Gold’s stock a hefty ‘buy’ rating.

CIBC gave it a target rating of C$10 this year and CSFB went even further with a rating of C$10.25. The consensus target price is C$8.08.

The buy ratings appear to be based on strong gold prices which are enough to shrug off Centerra Gold’s spat with the Kyrgyz authorities. Kyrgyzstan wants a direct stake in the Kumtor gold mine, its largest industrial asset, which is wholly owned by Centerra Gold. Instead it currently holds a 32.7%% stake in Centerra Gold.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 323, published on April 6 2017)

Riot police clash with protesters in Kyrgyz capital

Leave a Reply

BISHKEK, MARCH 25 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Roughly 500 people protested outside the security services in Bishkek against the arrest of a former MP, the latest and most violent in a series of demonstrations that have punctured the relative peace of the Kyrgyz capital this year.

Sadyr Japarov, a former MP, was arrested at a border checkpoint when he tried to return to Kyrgyzstan after fleeing the country in 2013.

Protesters scrapped and fought with police, in what has been described as the most violent anti- government clashes this year, after the deadline for Mr Japarov’s release from questioning by the security serv- ices came and went without him emerging. Bishkek is increasingly tense with presidential elections scheduled for November expected to be a tightly fought affair.

Police armed with riot gear had to move in to break up the demonstrations. Police said that they detained 68 people.

There have been several protests already this year in Kyrgyzstan focused on allegations made against the main opposition party Ata Meken, but opinion among experts and locals about this unexpected protest were divided. Some said the arrest, the protest, and quickly-ar- ranged press conference given by the ministry of interior looked suspicious.

“The brave arrival of Sadyr Japarov with the simultaneous organisation of an assertive protest, which would certainly fail, is somewhat strange,” wrote Nurbek Toktakunov, a well- known civil activist and human rights advocate in Bishkek, on Facebook.

A Bishkek lawyer said that the organisational skills shown by the ministry of interior in staging a press conference immediately after the protest were unprecedented.

“The ministry of interior rarely gives press conferences about demonstrations. This is surprising,” he said, asking to remain anonymous.

Other analysts said that the protest may have been organised by the security services to discredit the opposition. Mr Japarov’s return was unexpected as it is unclear what he was returning for, although some said he wanted to drum up support for standing in the presidential election. He had been an MP with the now marginalised Ata Zhurt party, and had largely been forgotten during his self-imposed exile.

The state authorities had accused him in 2012 of trying to overthrow the government. He denied the charges and fled the country.

Some locals praised the police action, though.

“Unregistered protests lead to anarchy. They began to throw stones, plastic bottles and broke through the cordon,” said Daniyar, 27, a resident of Bishkek. “It was a good job our policemen took preventive measures, otherwise it would be chaos.”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 322, published on March 27 2017)

Remittances in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan fall, in general

Leave a Reply

MARCH 22 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Remittances to Central Asia from Russia, a vital engine for economies in the region, fell in 2016 compared to 2015, data from the Russian Central Bank showed. Uzbeks working in Russia sent back $2.74b in 2016, down from $3b in 2015 and Tajiks sent back $1.9b compared to $2.2b the year before. Kyrgyzstan actually increased its remittances from Russia to $1.7b in 2016 from $1.5b.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 322, published on March 27 2017)

Kyrgyz court freezes media group’s bank accounts

Leave a Reply

MARCH 22 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in Kyrgyzstan froze the bank accounts of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Kyrgyz service and the website Zanoza.kg, which are both facing libel charges from the government for allegedly defaming President Almazbek Atambayev. The two media units deny the charges and have said that, instead, they are victims of the Kyrgyz government’s increasingly vitriolic attack on the free media.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 322, published on March 27 2017)

OnePlus to push out smartphone to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan

Leave a Reply

MARCH 17 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus has signed a deal with FSU-wide distributor Marvel to push its 3T model into the Kazakh and Kyrgyz markets, media reported. OnePlus has only been building smartphones since 2013 but it has already attracted rave reviews. The deal, which should push the 3T onto the shop floors of mobile handset retailers, reflects the prominence of China in Central Asia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 322, published on March 27 2017)

Hundreds more protest in Kyrgyz capital

Leave a Reply

MARCH 18/19 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Police in the Kyrgyz capital broke up a series of anti-government protests complaining about what they said was pressure on free speech. Media reported that hundreds of people turned out for the demonstrations after the government said that it was going to sue two media companies for slandering Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev. There have been a number of anti-government protests in Bishkek since the arrest last month of senior members of the opposition Ata Meken party, including leader and presidential candidate Omurbek Tekebayev.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 321, published on March 20 2017)

Kyrgyzstan expels Russian journalist

Leave a Reply

MARCH 13 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan expelled a high-profile Russian journalist, triggering an angry response from Russia’s embassy in Bishkek. Officially, Girgory Mikhailov, the Kyrgyzstan bureau chief for the Regnum news agency was expelled for failing to register properly. Mr Mikhailov, who has worked in Kyrgyzstan since 2002, said that he had not committed any infringements and that he didn’t know the real reason for his expulsion.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 321, published on March 20 2017)

Eurasian Bank agrees to loan Kyrgyzstan

Leave a Reply

MARCH 14 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Eurasian Development Bank has signed a deal with Kyrgyzstan to provide a loan of $110m to finance the construction of Unit 2 at the Kambarata hydropower plant, media reported. The Eurasian Development Bank is the bank of the Eurasian Economic Union. The funds for the hydropower development will come out of a special unit put aside to assist Kyrgyzstan joining the EEU in 2015.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 321, published on March 20 2017)

Comment: SCO expansion should not threaten the West, says Pantucci

Leave a Reply

MARCH 20 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has achieved remarkably little in its decade plus life.

Established formally in 2001, it grew out of a regional grouping aimed at seeking to define China’s borders with the former Soviet Union. Over time, it has expanded beyond its immediate neighbourhood to include countries as distant at Belarus and Sri Lanka as ‘dialogue partners’.

The current push to welcome both India and Pakistan is likely to further test the organisation’s already limited capability. The practical implications for Central Asia are unlikely to be dramatic, though in the longer term it may help bind Central and South Asia closer together and foster a greater sense of community across the Eurasian heartland.

In practical terms, the SCO has always been a fairly limited organisation. Seen initially by Russia as a way of controlling Chinese activity in Central Asia, for Beijing it has provided a useful umbrella under which to pursue their stealthy expansion in the region. For Central Asian powers, it provided another format in which to engage their larger neighbours. While the primary thrust of its activity has been in the security space, China has regularly sought to push it in an economic direction.

Yet, at the same time, all of the countries involved have largely pursued their own national interests through other pathways. The most recent demonstration was the establishment by Beijing of the Quadrilateral Cooperation and Coordination Mechanism (QCCM). Focused on managing the security threats from Afghanistan, the QCCM in many ways replicates a function which one would have expected the SCO to deliver.

The addition of Pakistan and India to the grouping is unlikely to change this dynamic.

All of the nations involved in the SCO will continue to function through their own bilateral and other multilateral engagements. But it will offer another forum in which India and Pakistan are obliged to interact and will also help further tie Central and South Asia together. These ties have been growing for some time. Kazakhstan has expressed an interest in participating in the China- Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and Indian President Narendra Modi visited Central Asia last year.

If India and Pakistan join the SCO, it will further help tie them together.

By Raffaello Pantucci, director of International Security Studies at the London-based Royal United Service Institute (RUSI).

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 321, published on March 20 2017)

Kyrgyzstan relaxes Iranian visa rules

Leave a Reply

MARCH 16 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan said that it had simplified visa rules for Iranians, matching a trend in the region. Iran and Kyrgyzstan have been boosting trade, diplomatic and tourist links. Georgia and Armenia have already scrapped visa requirements for Iranians and other countries are also relaxing rules. Iran is seen as an important economic driver for the region, especially since some sanctions were lifted last year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 321, published on March 20 2017)