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The Regions This Week
June 8, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 8
Eurasia
Kazakhstan will introduce a three-month ban on Russian petrol imports. While some observers have speculated that the ban has been prompted by rising gasoline prices in Russia, Energy Minister Kanat Bozumbayev pointed out that the pricing trend has not impacted Kazakhstan's domestic prices.
Nike declined to provide boots to players of Iran’s national football team for the World
Cup in Russia citing US sanctions relating to Washington’s withdrawal from the nuclear deal, VOA’s Persian service reported. The US-based sportswear company will now likely be boycotted by huge numbers of sports fans in Iran in anger at the move.
Foreign companies operating in Turkmenistan have not been receiving payments for the past four to five years, Oguzhan Cakiroglu, board member at Cakiroglu Grup, a Turkish metals and construction company, told Reuters. The length
of time suggested by Cakiroglu implies that Turkmenistan’s budgetary crisis may have started as early as 2013.
Armenia’s production of brandy dropped by 6.6% y/y in the first four months of this year, with the country producing 8,416,200 litres of the spirit. The decline followed sharp rises in both 2016 and 2017.
Former prime minister of Kyrgyzstan Sapar Isakov was taken into custody in a graft case relating to a power station that malfunctioned and left inhabitants of the capital Bishkek exposed to the winter cold for days. Recriminations flew after the facility broke down, but the pursuit of Isakov
is seen in many quarters as simply an official excuse to go after him due to his closeness to ex- president Almazbek Atambayev.
The Georgian capital is on edge following
days of protests. Anti-government protesters gathered for several days running to demand the resignation of the cabinet, in protests sparked by
the trial verdict of two young men suspected of killing two other teenagers last December.
The Bank of Mongolia launched a programme encouraging gold miners and individuals to sell their gold to the central bank and commercial banks. The project is part of the Mongolian government’s larger "Gold-2" programme.
Tajikistan “has taken steps demonstrating reform progress” which may lead to negotiations for an IMF support programme
for the Central Asian nation, an IMF official said. Tajikistan failed to secure IMF support since 2015, when its banking sector collapsed under the weight of its own bad lending practices.
AmRest Holdings SE finalised a framework franchise deal with Pizza Hut Europe that makes it the sole master franchisee for the Pizza Hut brand in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia. The holding company also outlined plans to open Starbucks stores in Serbia in 2018.
Iran Khodro, the Islamic Republic’s biggest car producer, halted all sales of new cars amid a push to increase the overall prices of its vehicles. The sudden halt in sales comes with Iran’s currency, the Iranian rial (IRR), down more than 50% against a basket of hard currencies on the unofficial market.
Russia's Lukoil will invest $270mn in exploration works in the Kazakh segment of the Caspian Sea under an agreement in principle signed with Ka- zakhstan’s KazMunaiGas. A full contract is expected to be signed in the autumn with an estimated date for the beginning of exploration works set for 2019.
GM Uzbekistan is to start selling cars under the Ravon brand domestically. The automaker previ- ously only sold cars under the Chevrolet brand locally, while the Ravon brand, introduced in 2015, was intended exclusively for sales outside Uzbekistan.