Page 18 - bne_newspaper_July_19_2019

Eurasia
July 19, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 18
Turkmenistan exposed: Investors warned nation is “teetering on edge
of catastrophe”
Kanat Shaku in Almaty
Turkmenistan is “teetering on the edge of catastrophe” and investors should be careful about associating themselves with the isolated Central Asian nation. So says a report issued by British think tank Foreign Policy Centre.
The main author of the report, FPC director Adam Hug, also labelled Turkmenistan as the region’s worst country “in terms of the depth and breadth of repression”, while noting its worsening economic crisis and defining it as an unstable environment for foreign investors.
“The current economic environment combines with deep and longstanding structural problems
The report raises questions over whether Turkmenistan's ruling autocrats are squandering wealth that should be invested in improving the lot of the country's deprived population - and whether foreign investors want to be associated with the waste.
to create an environment for foreign direct investment (FDI) that is fraught with risk,”
the report said. “For example, the lack of available funds and hard currency feed into a major problem of underpayment and non-payment.”
“This has been a major problem for international investors with the Turkmen government and
its business subsidiaries prioritising payments on the basis of political connections (including corruption) and strategic importance, leaving some debts for work completed unpaid for years,” it added.
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Underground expansion of Mongolia's Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold mine 'may cost $1.9bn more'
Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto says the under- ground expansion of its flagship giant copper and gold mine, Oyu Tolgoi, in Mongolia may require an additional $1.9bn on top of the existing costs of $5.3bn, “Bloomberg Daybreak: Asia” has reported.
The development comes as the world’s second biggest iron ore miner kept its full-year guidance unchanged after shipping more iron ore than expected in the second quarter of 2019. Oyu Tolgoi mine, located in the Gobi desert, is seen as a barometer for Mongolia's investment climate. Its
underground expansion could deliver long-term gains for the country.
Oyu Tolgoi is jointly owned by Mongolia’s government (34%) and Turquoise Hill (66%), in which Rio Tinto has a 51% stake. The mine has proven and probable reserves of 1.45bn tonnes.
Rio said in October initial production from the upgraded Oyu Tolgoi project would be delayed.
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