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The Regions This Week
March 2, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 9
Eurasia
Iran is set to offer highly valuable saffron on
a stock exchange in an effort aimed at creating a new alternative investment class with internation- al dimensions. Around 85% of the world’s saffron, a rare flower stem typically used as a spice, is produced in Iran and industry figures believe that with this level of production Iranian players can set world prices for the commodity.
Iran grounded all ATR-72 turboprop planes fol- lowing last week’s mountainside crash in which all 66 people aboard an aircraft operated on an internal route by Aseman Airlines—which has five ATR-72s—lost their lives. Local reports said the plane that crashed had itself been grounded for several years before lately returning to service after receiving new parts.
India’s ONGC Videsh dropped plans to build
a $5bn LNG export facility in Iran and decided instead to invest in developing the large Farzad-B gas field in the Persian Gulf.
The Iranian Privatisation Organisation (IPO) is to sell off 78.37% of the Khaleej e-Fars (Persian Gulf) International Transport Company, 16.67% of Esfahan Steel Company and 19.5% of Iran Alu- minium Company (IRALCO) on Tehran bourses.
Terrorism fears are holding up a plan to truck oil from Iraq’s northern Kirkuk fields to Iran. X-ray machines needed to scan the oil trucks are not available. Baghdad and Tehran have agreed to swap up to 60,000 barrels per day of Kirkuk crude produced from Kirkuk for Iranian oil to be deliv- ered to southern Iraq.
London-listed Kazakh copper giant Kaz Minerals
set its production guidance at 270,000-300,000 tonnes of copper for 2018. In 2017, the company’s output jumped by 80% y/y to 259,000 tonnes driven by the expansion of production facilities.
The most profitable Kazakh companies set to IPO in 2018-2020 are National Company KazMu-
naiGas (NC KMG), railway company Kazakhstan Temir Zholy and uranium producer Kazatomprom, analytical website finprom.kz concluded, basing its findings on data from the first nine months
of 2017.
The EBRD expects Kazakhstan to maintain its growth level at 3.5%-4% in 2018, assuming oil prices remain in the corridor of over $60 per bar- rel. Last year Kazakh GDP grew 4% y/y, 0.2 pp bet- ter than the development bank anticipated.
Mongolia’s economy grew 5.1% y/y in 2017, up from 1% in 2016. The swing was mainly down
to higher demand for Mongolian coal in China – which can no longer buy North Korean coal due to sanctions – and the $5.5bn IMF-led bailout deal.
Armenia's economic development minister Suren Karayan appeared to confirm that the govern- ment is investigating environmental damage from Vallex Group's Teghut copper and minerals mining operations. The company has halted min- ing at the site.
The hard currency volume sold by Azerbaijan's oil fund Sofaz to commercial banks in 2017 de- creased by 26% y/y to $3.6bn. Sofaz, with assets exceeding $35bn, has since early 2016 participat- ed in biweekly currency auctions to boost trust in the local manat currency.
Georgia's justice ministry launched a smartphone app meant to prevent Georgian citizens from overstaying in the EU. After long delays, Geor- gia was granted 90-day visa-free access to the Schengen area and EU in 2017.
Uzbekistan has finished renovation works on the Galaba-Amuzang railway connecting southern regions of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Tajik officials, meanwhile, said Uzbekistan is aiming to lower transit fees for Tajik goods transported via cars, buses and trucks through Uzbekistan to zero.