News Roundup - November 6, 2007

Forbes: Kazakhstan’s Zhaikmunai plans London listing next month

Kazakh oil and gas producer Zhaikmunai said it hopes to list its shares in the London stock market towards the end of the year…

Reuters: Kazakh energy firm to float shares in London

ZhaikMunai, an independent Kazakh oil and gas company, plans to list shares on the London Stock Exchange by the end of this year, it said on Monday. By doing so the company will join a growing club of Kazakh natural resources firms seeking foreign listings and more exposure to the international business community…

Neweurasia.net: Kazakhstan, a dreamland

It has been an open secret to everyone that the first “our” billionaires mentioned in Forbes lists were citizens of Kyrgyzstan - Messrs Mashkevich and Ibragimov with their Uzbek friend, Mr. Chodiev…

The Moscow Times: Kazkommertsbank cuts loan rates

The lender signed accords with five construction companies, including Bazis A and BI Group, to provide their clients with loans at an annual interest rate of no more than 13.5 percent, the Almaty-based bank said in a statement Thursday. The bank, which raised the rate to as much as 18 percent on Sept. 13, said it was also in talks with Kuat, Kazakhstan’s biggest builder, and six others…

The Financial Times: Kazakhstan looks to sovereign bonds

Kazakhstan has said it might return to the international bond markets should the difficulties of its domestic banks increase amid the worldwide credit squeeze. Bakhyt Sultanov, economics and budget minister, told the Financial Times: “We are considering the option of a sovereign [bond] issue. That would raise confidence . . . it would also help by setting a clear benchmark.” …

The Financial Times: Plan agreed on $19bn new Silk Road

Eight countries signed an agreement at the weekend to spend $19bn on roads and railways running through central Asia to revive and expand the ancient Silk Road that connected China and Europe…

Transitions Online: Dough on the rise

At lunchtime each day, civil servants, construction workers, and sales clerks line up at their local grocery stores to buy bread. The Kazakh laborers choose from flat bread, black bread, fried bread, and meat dumplings…

Neweurasia.net: Blogosphere debates the language issue

A month ago Nurgeldy told at neweurasia how they are fighting poor knowledge of the state language in the Kazakhstan’s northern city of Kustanai. His post gave rise to quite a heated dispute both in Russian and English versions of the blog, covering such issues as why urban population speaks the Kazakh language so scantily, and why ethnic Kazakhs fail to use it either…

Eurasianet: Tracing the origins of the great Caspian energy game

When the Cold War drew to a close in the early 1990s, most people who followed the geopolitical zigs and zags for a living figured the date to remember would be August 19, 1991, the start of the failed coup against Mikhail Gorbachev, and the beginning of the end for the Soviet Union. It turns out, however, that the most memorable date of the turbulent 1990s may prove to be September 20, 1994, the day the so-called “contract of the century” was signed, and the day the Great Game over Caspian Basin energy reserves began in earnest…

Reuters: EBRD mulls buying into Kazakh state investment funds

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is considering Kazakhstan’s suggestion that it buy stakes in the country’s state investment vehicles, the bank’s country manager said on Monday…