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The Regions This Week
March 22, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 9
Eurasia
Kazakhstan will temporarily shut down output at its giant Kashagan oil field to comply with production cuts agreed by OPEC and non-OPEC countries in December 2018, S&P Global Platts quoted Kazakh Energy Minister, Kanat Bozum- bayev as saying. Previously, Kazakhstan failed to comply with its own minimal requirements on output cuts.
US State Department officials warned that
more sanctions targeted at Iran are on the way. The sanctions assault waged by the US on Iran since last year has pushed the country back into recession. Inflation has been sent soaring and the value of the Iranian rial against hard currencies has collapsed.
The Azerbaijani central bank cut its refinancing rate to 9% from 9.25%. The regulator also adjusted its rate corridor, setting a lower boundary at 7% and an upper boundary at 11%, compared to the boundaries of 7.25% and 11.25% previously in place.
Georgia is to receive almost €50mn from the
EU within the Support for Skill Development financial agreement and around €48mn within the Economic Development and Business Support agreement, Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze has announced, as quoted by Agenda. ge following a meeting with EU Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmstrom.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of Turkmenistan officially launched Hil Standart’s Microbiology Laboratory, the US Embassy in Ashgabat said. The move marked the opening of the first private sector food safety laboratory in Turkmenistan.
Swiss Capital International Group AG bought an additional 35% stake in Uzbekistan-based ATF InFinBank, investment firm IFG Capital said. The
company purchased the stake last week and now owns 140mn shares in the bank.
Four days of bilateral talks between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan following violent clashes at a disputed section of the Tajik-Kyrgyz border concluded successfully and the area was reopened. The clashes that took place on March 13-14 left two Tajik citizens dead from gunfire and at least 13 more Tajiks and three Kyrgyz citizens wounded.
Fitch Ratings for the first time assigned coal producer Mongolian Mining Corporation (MMC) a long-term foreign-currency issuer default rating (IDR). It issued a 'B' with a stable outlook. Fitch has also assigned a 'B(EXP)' expected rating with an expected recovery rating of 'RR4' to the US dollar-denominated senior notes proposed
by MMC.
The IMF expects Armenia's economic growth
to slow to 4.5% this year from 5.2% in 2018 because of a weaker global environment
and lower copper prices, the fund's representative said. The impoverished South Caucasus country of 3.2mn is strongly dependent on aid and investment from strategic ally Russia.
Uzbekistan’s foreign trade amounted to $6.39bn in January-February, up by 25.4% y/y, according to official data published by the country’s statistics office. Uzbek exports stood at $3.03bn, up by 20.4% y/y, while imports rose by 30.3% y/y to a similar figure of $3.35bn when rounded off.
The Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan (SDPK) decided to join the opposition. The decision — taken by the half of the party that
is still loyal to former President Almazbek Atambayev — was made so that that "it could criticise the government and propose other
ways for the country’s development,” SDPK spokeswoman Kunduz Joldubaeva told reporters.