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Eurasia
June 8, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 20
telliNews reported recently. The eventual aim is to curb rampant pollution by cutting coal consump- tion and switching to cleaner forms of energy, but in the meantime, coal remains the top source of energy in China and the fall in domestic produc- tion has led to an increase in imports. And China’s coal consumption actually increased in 2017 due to a slump in hydropower generation.
Aside from Mongolia, exporters such as Azerbai- jan, Kazakhstan and Russia would also be hit by a slowdown in China or a new fall in oil prices even though, according to Fitch, they have strength- ened their policy frameworks, having being forced to deal with the slump in oil prices in recent years.
“The impact of a Chinese investment slowdown on Russia, for example, should be softened by great- er exchange rate flexibility, inflation targeting and
Back-to-work Iran confronted by darkening nuclear deal horizons
bne IntelliNews
As Iran prepared to go back to work on June 7 following three days of public holidays, there was little evidence of the kind of “credible” measures it has called for from Europe to stop the nuclear deal unravelling at the instigation of the Trump White House.
June 6 did at least bring news that the Euro- pean Union, France, Germany and the UK have formally asked the US not to impose sanctions on EU-based companies over Iran. A published letter signed by their combined eight foreign and
a more conservative fiscal stance, and might not be as severe as estimated by the model, which is based on historical relationships,” the report says. “Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan have followed similar adjustment paths, although Azerbaijan has lagged and appears more exposed.”
Turkmenistan is not mentioned in the Fitch report, but China is the sole importer of its natural gas at present. A slowdown in China would therefore be another big blow for Turkmenistan, which relies heavily on hydrocarbons exports — the recent fall in oil prices has already sent the once affluent nation into an economic crisis. Its authoritarian government has been reducing formerly generous welfare subsidies due to declining government revenues, and various foreign companies operat- ing in the country were recently revealed to be waiting for payments dating back up to five years.
The nuclear deal was adopted in October 2015 by Iran, the US, the UK, Germany, France and China, with the European Union also adding its signature.
finance ministers asks Washington to permit EU companies to continue doing business with the Is- lamic Republic, despite the unilateral withdrawal of the US from the multilateral accord announced a month ago and the subsequent threat to intro- duce the “strongest sanctions in history” against Tehran and any foreign entities trading with Iran or investing in the country.
"As allies, we expect that the United States will refrain from taking action to harm Europe's se- curity interests," the ministers wrote in the letter