Tag Archives: Uzbekistan

Uzbek rights activist dies

JUNE 22 2017 (The Bulletin) — Uzbek human rights activist Nuraddin Jumaniyazov has died in prison of tuberculosis, the New York based Human Rights Watch reported by quoting his wife. Jumaniyazov had been arrested in 2014 for human trafficking, charges that his supporters said were politically motivated. Access to Jumaniyazov was limited and his wife said that he died at the end of 2016.

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(News report from Issue No. 334, published on June 26 2017)

Uzbekistan warns that inflation is accelerating

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TASHKENT, JUNE 24 2017 (The Bulletin) — Inflation in Uzbekistan is accelerating fast, the country’s Central Bank said in a rare statement giving economic guidance.

Uzbekistan is Central Asia’s most populous country and the admission will alarm other neighbouring governments who have been hinting at inflationary pressures built into their economies.

As well as warning of inflationary pressures, Uzbekistan’s Central Bank also said that it was pushing up its key interest rate to 14% from 9%, although it was unclear how much impact this rise would have on an economy underpinned by government support and the Black Market.

“This decision is due to an acceleration of inflation over the past period and the need to limit the increased inflationary risks,” the Uzbek Central Bank said in a statement.

“Along with the seasonal fluctuations and supply factors, inflation has been influenced by monetary factors such as the acceleration in lending of the national currency into the economy and its devaluation compared to previous years.”

The unusually frank guidance from the Central Bank may also be linked to both a change in Central Bank chief and a shift in the Uzbek government’s mindset.

Fayzulla Mullajanov, Central Bank chief since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 and a relic from a Soviet-tinged bygone era, died in May. Parliament has approved Mamarizo Nurmuratov as his replacement.

Mr Nurmuratov is another long- serving Central Bank insider and had been Mr Mullajanov’s adviser but he may have been told to open up the reclusive institution by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev. Mr Mirziyoyev has appeared determined to open up Uzbekistan since taking over from Islam Karimov in September last year.

The Uzbek Central Bank’s statement also referenced the depreciation of its currency. It has steadily managed a drop in value of the Uzbek soum of around 0.7% per week over the past year. In the last 12 months it has dropped by around a third to trade, officially, at 3,930/$1. On the Black Market, the soum is trading at 8,300/$1, according to uzdollar.com.

Uzbekistan’s economic woes are mirrored across the region. A drop in oil prices in 2014, reduced the value of its gas exports and triggered a recession in Russia. Uzbekistan, like its Central Asian neighbours, relies on Russia as an economic driver, creating jobs and markets. Remittances from Russia have picked up but are still at a third of the level of 2014.

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(News report from Issue No. 334, published on June 26 2017)

Currencies: Kazakhstan’s tenge, Uzbekistan’s soum

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JUNE 19 2017 (The Bulletin) — Falling oil prices have dented the Kazakh tenge, pushing it down to 320/$1, its lowest level since mid- February. This is a fall of 1.5% for the week, matching the fall of Brent oil. Brent oil was down at $47.37/barrel, down 1.6% for the week.

Overall, though, the Kazakh tenge is still trading up around 4% from where it started the year, although it has fallen back from highs hit in May. In May, the tenge traded at 310.6/$1 and had looked at one point as if it was going to push through the barrier.

There was little other currency moves this week, with the Azerbaijani manat staying unaffected by the fall in oil prices, and the Uzbek soum continuing its steady weekly 0.7% tick down.

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(News report from Issue No. 333, published on June 19 2017)

Uzbekistan constructs lead plant

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JUNE 11 2017 (The Bulletin) — Uzbekistan has started construction of a $90m lead producing plant near Tashkent. The plant will have a production capacity of 30,000 tonnes of lead per year. Importantly it will provide jobs, something that Pres. Shavkat Mirziyoyev has said is a priority. The lead plant, though, was actually commissioned in May 2016, under the presidency of Islam Karimov.

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(News report from Issue No. 333, published on June 19 2017)

Uzbekneftgas does not plan upgrade for domestic gas system

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TASHKENT, JUNE 14 2017 (The Bulletin) — Dashing hopes of any major infrastructure development for domestic gas supplies, Uzbekneftegas chairman Alisher Sultanov said that Uzbekistan’s regions should get used to only having sporadic access to gas.

Speaking at a press conference in Tashkent, Mr Sultanov said that “there was no hope for this” when asked by a journalist if he expected an improvement in domestic gas supplies. Instead he blamed ordinary Uzbeks of disrupting the gas system by stealing from it.

His comments are important as they fly in the face of an ambitious development and investment programme promoted by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, who took over as leader in September last year.

Irregular gas supplies outside Tashkent have become a persistent complaint since the early 2000s. Local residents rely on firewood and coal to cook and keep warm or on canisters of liquefied natural gas.

Mr Sultanov was blunt and said people should save energy rather than rely on the government.

“The gas supply systems in the regions have been abused by the people for 25 years,” he said. “There will be no gas.”

Previously, Uzbeks have accused the government of putting profits ahead of domestic supplies and also of being prepared to risk people’s lives by not providing proper gas supplies during Uzbekistan’s often freezing winters.

And ordinary Uzbeks met Mr Sultanov’s comments with derision.

“Can Uzbekneftegaz still not decide on its main task as a national company? What is more important for the company? Increasing natural gas supplies to the population or increasing exports to China?” said one man who asked to remain anonymous.

The reaction on Facebook, which ordinary Uzbeks use to discuss their affairs, was also incredulous.

“Let Alisher Sultanov spend a week in the regions where there are no gas and electricity in the winter and then he will think over whether giving gas is worth it or not,” another man said.

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(News report from Issue No. 333, published on June 19 2017)

Uzbek President approves French investment

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JUNE 14 2017 (The Bulletin) — Uzbek president Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed a decree that formalises an investment by French carmaker PSA, owner of the Peugeot and Citron brands. PSA plans to produce around 16,000 vans every year in Uzbekistan. The Uzbek car-making sector is important domestically as it is one of the few outside the oil and gas sector with foreign investors. US’ GM is a 25% stake holder in a joint-venture with Uzbekistan’s Uzavtosanoat.

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(News report from Issue No. 333, published on June 19 2017)

Uzbekistan considers weapons purchase

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JUNE 15 2017 (The Bulletin) — Uzbek defence minister Atabek Ibadullayev travelled to Kazakhstan to tour weapons plants in Uralsk which produce armoured vehicles and optical rifles sites. Kazakhstan’s ministry of defence then released a statement which said that although Uzbekistan hadn’t yet purchased any weapons, Mr Ibadullayev had expressed an interest. Kazakh-Uzbek military ties are improving.

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(News report from Issue No. 333, published on June 19 2017)

Uzbek President sacks power company head

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JUNE 15 2017 (The Bulletin) — Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev sacked Fazliddin Salomov as the head of Uzenergo, the state-owned electricity producer, for failing to generate more revenue from power sales. Electricity is a thorny issue in Central Asia and the South Caucasus. Countries need to increase prices but risk upsetting ordinary people. In Armenia, street protests in 2015 reversed a drive to scarp power subsidies. Mr Salomov had only been in the job since Sept. 2016. He was replaced by Ulugbek Mustafaev, formerly the deputy head of the Jizzakh region.

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(News report from Issue No. 333, published on June 19 2017)

Uzbek President sacks head of power company

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(News report from Issue No. 333, published on June 19 2017)

UN chief’s visit disappoints human rights activists

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ALMATY, JUNE 15 2017 (The Bulletin) — UN Security general Antonio Guterres completed a tour of all five Central Asian states, his first since taking the job six months ago, although human rights activists complained that he had taken too soft a line on a regional crackdown of journalists and dissenters.

Mr Guterres’ main message was that the governments of the region need to remain engaged with international organisations to reach their full potential.

“Kazakhstan has been a symbol of dialogue, a symbol of peace, a symbol of the promotion of contacts between cultures, religions and civilizations; and with its presence in the (UN) Security Council, an extremely important dimension in mediation, in relation to conflict,” he said in Astana.

In Ashgabat, a few days later, after attending a counter-terrorism conference Mr Guterres, a former Portuguese PM and UN high commissioner for refugees, took a tougher line on rights.

“Upholding the rights of freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly in this region are fundamental to countering the threat that violent extremism poses,” he said.

Even so, with media freedoms and human rights on the retreat in the region, after a series of arrests of journalists and a crackdown on workers’ unions, activists accused Mr Guterres of going soft on the issue in favour of developing nodes of engagement.

Hugh Williamson, director of the Central Asia division at New York- based Human Rights Watch, said Mr Guterres had failed to meet members of local civil rights movements on his tour of the region and that describing Kazakhstan as a “pillar of stability” and Kyrgyzstan as a “pioneer of democracy” was sending out the wrong message.

“Central Asian leaders also pay close attention to what high-level visitors like Guterres focus on, also in public,” he said in a statement.

“Not only did Guterres fail to set clear expectations on human rights improvements across Central Asia, his praise for his largely authoritarian audience risks sending the message that trampling over human rights is fine.”

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(News report from Issue No. 333, published on June 19 2017)