news roundup
News Roundup - May 19, 2008
energy:
Western majors escape new Kazakh oil export duty
(Reuters) - The government of Kazakhstan unveiled on Friday a preliminary list of companies subject to a new oil export duty which, as expected, does not include any Western majors.
Kashagan field oil production delayed
(New Europe) - Kazakhstan’s Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Sauat Mynbaev said foreign participants in the Agip KCO consortium have proposed postponing the beginning of commercial production for another couple of years in Kazakhstan’s Kashagan oil field.
Tethys tests gas on first Kul-Bas exploration well (Rigzone)
Coal exports in rose 21.9% in Q1, output 19.7 in Jan-April (Interfax)
KEGOC lifts restrictions on power supply to East Kazakhstan (Interfax)
mineral resources:
Kazakhmys expects first Balkhash acid output end-June
(Reuters) - London-listed Kazakhmys Corp. expects the first output from its 1.2-million-tonne sulphuric acid plant in Balkhash, Kazakhstan, at the end of June, the copper producer said on Friday.
Ivanhoe Mines releases Q1 financial results (Mineweb)
business and economy:
Raiffeisen cool on Kazakhstan, eyes $400mln Russia spend
(Reuters) - Austrian bank Raiffeisen International will not make an acquisition in Kazakhstan this year but plans to invest $400 million in neighbouring Russia, its chief executive said on Sunday.
Qatar Islamic Bank plans $100 million Kazakh start-up
(Bloomberg) - Qatar Islamic Bank SAQ, the Persian Gulf state’s biggest Shariah-compliant lender, plans to start an Islamic bank in Kazakhstan with the former Soviet republic’s government to tap its oil-fueled economic growth.
Kazakhstan to decide on Samruk IPO, debt by autumn
(Reuters/Guardian) - Kazakhstan will decide the capital markets strategy of state holding company Samruk, which manages some of the country’s most strategic assets — including oil — by autumn, Finance Minister Bolat Zhamishev said on Sunday.
Kazakhstan cuts 2008 GDP growth forecast to 5.3 pct
(Reuters) - Kazakhstan has cut its 2008 economic growth forecast to 5.3 percent from a previous range of 5-7 percent, Economy Minister Bakhyt Sultanov said on Friday.
EBRD cuts forecasts for three key states
(Financial Times) - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development on Sunday cut growth forecasts for Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Romania – three key countries for emerging markets investors – because of difficulties arising from the global credit crunch and mounting inflation.
(Interfax/Stockhouse) - Improving business climate, growing international reserves and record high prices for key export commodities of Kazakhstan underlie economic stability of the country against the global liquidity squeeze, Minister of Economy and Budget Planning Bakhyt Sultanov expressed has his opinion in an interview with Interfax-Kazakhstan.
(Transitions Online) - The shortsighted protectionism of Central Asia’s only major grain exporter is the latest body blow to the region’s unsteady economies…
Several agreements on Kazakhstan’s large projects realization signed in Egypt (Kazinform)
German entrepreneurs to visit Kazakhstan (Kazinform)
Ministry of Economics considers inflation in Kazakhstan not to exceed 10 percent (Kazakhstan Today/Stockhouse)
Kazakhstan and Israel interested in strengthening of cooperation in sphere of innovation technologies (Kazakhstan Today/Gazeta.kz)
Basic pension in Kazakhstan will be increased by KZT600 from July1 of the current year - Sultanov (Kazakhstan Today/Gazeta.kz)
Price for fuel soared in Astana - newspaper (Kazakhstan Today/Gazeta.kz)
National Bank of Kazakhstan: Exchange rates May 17-19, 2008 (Kazinform)
politics:
President’s son-in-law offers to testify in U.S. in ‘Kazakhgate’ probe
(Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty/EurasiaNet) - Rakhat Aliev, the exiled former son-in-law of Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbaev, says he’s ready to give evidence in a U.S. investigation into whether Nazarbaev and other Kazakh officials took bribes from U.S. businesses to receive lucrative oil contracts more than a decade ago.
Lithuania and Kazakhstan plan cooperation projects
(Eurasia Daily Monitor) - On May 13 Lithuanian Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas met with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and subsequently told reporters that Lithuania was seeking to deepen its energy cooperation and bilateral trade with Kazakhstan.
Weekly review of political developments in Kazakhstan
(Ferghana.ru/Turkish Weekly) - Traditional May festivities notwithstanding, last week was replete with political developments and staff changes in Kazakhstan. Akims, or governors, of two Kazakh regions were replaced, those implicated in the Rahat-gate scandal were stripped of their personal possessions and state decorations, and the information minister was dismissed.
Russia will back Kazakhstan’s OSCE chairmanship in 2010- Russian Foreign Ministry (Interfax)
Kazakhstan’s government adjusts budget - 2008 (Interfax)
Our aim – to strength and deepen cooperation with Kazakhstan: Indonesian FM (Kazinform)
Nazarbayev attends World Economic Forum in Egypt (Kazinform)
Kazakh Vice FM to meet chief of Directorate for Eastern Europe, Caucasus, Central Asia (Kazinform)
Kazakh Vice PM to take part in session of CIS Premiers’ Council in Minsk (Kazinform)
Kazakh parliamentarians took part in session of UN Commission (Kazinform)
society:
Korea beat Kazaks in Asian Five Nations
(Khaleej Times) - South Korea ran in six tries to power past Kazakhstan 40-21 and chalk their second victory in the inaugural Asian Five Nations rugby tournament here on Saturday.
regional news:
Turkish policy toward Central Asia
(Turkish Weekly) - Turkey was among the first countries to recognize the Central Asian republics immediately upon their independence in the early 1990s. The emergence of sister states, sometimes called the “Turkic republics” including Tajikistan, precipitated an outbreak of excitement in almost all political wings in Turkey.
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