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The Regions This Week
June 14, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 5
Eurasia
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said
Washington had made up its mind that Iran
was responsible for attacks on two oil tankers
in the Gulf of Oman. The latest incidents left the Norwegian-owned Front Altair and the Japanese- owned Kokuka Courageous seriously damaged, and sent Brent crude up by almost 4.5% to almost $62.64 per barrel.
Mongolia's pig population remains under threat from highly contagious African swine fever, now being described as the biggest animal disease outbreak the planet has ever faced given the mil- lions of pigs already culled in China and Vietnam in efforts at fighting it.
A blaze at an Iranian production platform in the South Pars gas field was contained by fireboats. The fire broke out at the offshore production plat- form that serves Iran’s phases 6, 7 and 8 in the development of the huge South Pars gas field in the Persian Gulf.
Tajikistan’s central bank cut its key refinanc- ing rate to 13.25% from 14.75%, despite inflation in April being recorded at 8.3% as price gains continued to accelerate. The decision to cut the refinancing rate appears counterintuitive as the regulator’s ideal targeted inflation rate stands at 7%, according to the central bank’s website. The cut will likely only help further spur inflation.
Uzbekistan signed contracts worth $320mn at the Doing Business With Namangan internation- al investment forum, UzDaily news agency re- ported. Uzbekistan is planning to carry out 1,400 investment projects worth $2.8bn in 2019-2020 as part of a drive to develop the Namangan region.
New logistics centres will be constructed in Azerbaijan's Ganja city and at the "Red Bridge" customs checkpoint on the Azerbaijani-Georgian border, secretary of the Azerbaijani Coordinating
Council on Transit Freight, Rufat Bayramov, was cited as saying by MENAFN. The new Baku International Sea Trade Port has been included in the economic zone.
Elections for the legislative body in the breaka- way Georgian region of South Ossetia were held, prompting the Georgian Foreign Ministry to denounce the vote. The chair of South Ossetia's election commission said that the United Osse- tia party had won the most votes in a preliminary count of the votes.
The UK headquarters of British American Tobac- co (BAT) decided to start delivering processed Uzbek tobacco components to BAT factories in EU countries. BAT subsidiary UzBAT will supply the “Basma” tobacco variety, which is native to western Greece, to European BAT plants.
Consumer prices in Kyrgyzstan edged up by 0.1% y/y in May, switching from the deceleration of 0.5% recorded in April, data published by the country's national statistics body showed. Defla- tion lasted for three months in 2019 following a general uptick in consumer prices throughout 2018 and in January this year tied to recovering remittances flowing in from migrants employed in Russia.
Azerbaijan’s central bank cut its refinancing rate to 8.50% from 8.75% as inflation expectations were stable. The national lender also adjusted its rate corridor. It announced a lower boundary of 6.5% and an upper boundary of 10.5%. Previously the boundaries were 6.75% and 10.75%, respectively.
Private Iraqi firms launched a new coach route to Armenia via Iran, Al-Alam News Agency reported. They made the move after pointing to improved security in Iraq following the collapse of the so- called Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.