Tag Archives: Tajikistan

Currency: Kazakh tenge, Kyrgyz som

OCT. 2-8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Kazakh tenge lost 1.5% of its value over the past week, ending at 274/$1.

Much of this perceived strength appears to lie with the Central Bank’s little secret — intervention. Despite promising never to intervene in the currency again, the Kazakh Central Bank has spent another $367.5m this week propping up its currency.

Over the border in Kyrgyzstan, the som crept briefly over 69/$1 on Oct. 6, before settling back to 68.9 in a week that saw little of the violent fluctuations of previous episodes. The Kyrgyz Central Bank also intervened in the market, selling $10.2m.

No doubt the successful and peace- ful parliamentary elections would have played well to the steady currency markets. European vote monitors were certainly impressed and that is good for Kyrgyzstan’s image.

The Georgian lari was also stable last week at 2.40. Positive economic data and a substantial stability in foreign reserves reassured lari holders.

The Tajik somoni continued its gradual devaluation against the dollar. By marginally weakening every week, the somoni has lost 2.5% of its value against the dollar over the past month.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 251, published on Oct. 9 2015)

Tajik coal production rises

OCT. 6 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Coal production in Tajikistan grew by 27% in the first nine months of 2015 to 760,000 tonnes, compared to the same period last year, the government said. This is important both for export revenues and also in the run-up to winter when hydro-power slows and energy demand rises.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 251, published on Oct. 9 2015)

Tajikistan arrests bank chief

OCT. 7 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) -Tajik authorities arrested Samikhon Kurbonov, the former chairman of Fononbonk, because of his family ties to Saidumar Khusaini, a high- ranking member of the now banned Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT). Last week, Tajikistan’s Central Bank also placed Fononbonk under receivership.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 251, published on Oct. 9 2015)

UN worries about Tajik IRPT ban

OCT. 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The office of the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) said it was concerned of possible human rights violations linked to Tajikistan’s ban on the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT). It said the ban was an attempt to crush dissent.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 251, published on Oct. 9 2015)

Comment: Worry over intensifying fighting in northern Afghanistan

OCT. 9 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russia and the US are right to be increasingly concerned about intensifying fighting in northern Afghanistan.

The question is what can they do about it, if anything?

This week, Russia said it was sending a batch of attack helicopters to its base in Tajikistan. Russia is clearly in a belligerent mood, as its air strikes in Syria have also shown.

For most ordinary Tajiks, as the Bulletin reports, the attack helicopters are welcome in the country, although it is not entirely clear when Russia would actually use them.

For the US, the priority is to protect its own. It has said it is going to spend $200m strengthening its embassy in Turkmenistan.

No doubt the current embassy needed an upgrade but don’t be fooled by the cleverly spun press releases.

The US is not spending $200m rebuilding its embassy to re-affirm its commitment to Turkmenistan. It is spending $200m rebuilding its embassy on the outskirts of Ashgabat because it is nervous and the strategy now is to prioritise protection over everything else. This will be an embassy with big walls and prison-style security cut off from the rest of Turkmenistan.

Both the Russian and the US moves are a response to the Taliban threat over the border and the radical Islamic threat internally.

These threats appear to be growing, although there is debate over just how strong IS recruitment really is in the region. Both Russia and the US and the rest of Central Asia will have to get used to them.

By James Kilner, Editor, The Conway Bulletin

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 251, published on Oct. 9 2015)

Chinese cement to expand in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan

SEPT. 29 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Shangfeng Cement, a Chinese cement producer, aims to raise 1.5b yuan ($235m) to fuel its expansion into Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The two projects Shangfeng plans in Central Asia both have a capacity to produce 3,200 tonnes of cement per day and will cost around $130m. Shangfeng plans to sell its cement in Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and northern Afghanistan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 250, published on Oct. 2 2015)

Iran carmaker fancies Tajikistan

SEPT. 28 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Iran Khodro Industrial Group (IKCO) will export 500 cars to Tajikistan later this year as a test run ahead of potentially investing in a production site, Iranian media reported. The private company based in Tehran manufactures the Samand brand of family cars. Saeed Tafazzoli, the company’s deputy CEO, said he wants to take the brand into Central Asia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 250, published on Oct. 2 2015)

Comment: Fate of IRPT in Tajikistan

OCT. 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – So the fate of the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT) appears to have been sealed by the country’s highest court. It is, apparently, a terrorist organisation that helped plan a couple of attacks last month on police checkpoints which killed two dozen people.

A former deputy defence minister has been named as the mastermind of the attacks but the IRPT also played an important role, the court said.

This is the culmination of a ramping up of pressure on the IRPT this year. Its leaders have been forced out of the country, some of its top Dushanbe-based officials have been attacked in the street and various courts have banned it for, firstly not being big enough and secondly for its involvement in the September attacks.

To really prove its case, the Tajik judiciary needs to release more concrete evidence to the international community of the IRPT’s apparent involvement in the attacks. At the moment it just doesn’t stack up.

Instead, as an analyst told the Bulletin’s correspondent in Dushanbe, it feels like a blatant attack on political opponents.

This is dangerous for Tajikistan. What Tajikistan needs is a moderate opposition group that is going to challenge the authorities and President Emomali Rakhmon through the normal channels. What it’ll get instead, with the crushing of opposition groups, is a vacuum that radical Islamists can exploit.

Tajikistan stands at a cross- roads. By banning the IRPT, the authorities are disenfranchising part of its population and taking another step along the wrong path.

By James Kilner, Editor, The Conway Bulletin

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 250, published on Oct. 2 2015)

Kyrgyz and Tajik CASA-1000 worries

SEPT. 25 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – In an interview with a local newspaper, an official from Pakistan’s ministry of water and power said it was $142m short of its promised $297m investment for the so called CASA- 1000 power transit project. This is a serious concern for the project which is set to cost a total of $1.2b. If completed it will boost Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan power exports to Pakistan and Afghanistan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 250, published on Oct. 2 2015)

Tajikistan kills Nazarzoda men

OCT. 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajikistan security forces killed two men they said were linked to former deputy minister Gen. Abdukhalim Nazarzoda. Tajik authorities have accused Nazarzoda of plotting attacks on police checkpoints that killed more than two dozen people in Dushanbe and a nearby town last month. Nazarzoda was killed during a special operation.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 250, published on Oct. 2 2015)