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The Regions This Week
February 22, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 8
Eurasia
Russian oil major Lukoil and Kazakhstan’s state- run oil and gas company KazMunayGas are close to signing a contract on the joint development of the Zhenis block in the Kazakh segment of the Caspian Sea, Kommersant reported citing Lukoil CEO Vagit Alekperov. The deal is expected to be signed within a month, Alekperov said.
Turkmenistan halved its oil exports in recent weeks due to a lack of tankers caused by a clash between Swiss trading house Vitol and Azerbai- jan’s SOCAR, Reuters reported, citing anonymous traders. Turkmenistan normally exports around 200,000 tonnes of oil per month via the Caspian
to world markets from the Cheleken field oper- ated by the UAE’s Dragon Oil and the Okarem field operated Italy’s Eni.
The Malaysian company TXMR plans to establish a joint venture for robotics manufacturing in Uz- bekistan, the press service of the Uzbek Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported. TXMR mainly focuses on industrial automation and robot manufacturing in the Southeast Asian region.
Iran’s Bandar Abbas port authorities are keep- ing hold of 5,000 tonnes of frozen Brazilian beef due to payment issues, Fars News Agency re- ported. The failure to release the beef, which has been held in freezer containers for the past four months, is the latest consequence of Iran’s bank- ing problems as well as country’s struggle with the devaluation of the Iranian rial.
Azerbaijan’s economy grew by 2.9% y/y in Janu- ary, with GDP amounting to AZN5.9bn ($3.5bn) in the month, the State Statistics Committee said. GDP per capita stood at AZN601.1.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Geor- gian government signed a deal on a €250mn loan to finance infrastructure projects in Georgia. The
money will be used for “vitally important” infra- structure projects, said the government of Georgia, such as the construction and renovation of the Rustavi-Red Bridge-Sadakhlo highway.
China is seen as the biggest economic threat to Kyrgyzstan, according to a survey by the International republican Institute (IRI). 57% of respondents identified China an important eco- nomic threat, followed by the US (42%). Just 2% of respondents picked Russia as a threat, with 94% seeing the country as an important economic partner.
Mongolia’s economy grew by 6.9% y/y in 2018,
up from the 5.1% growth recorded in 2017, the lat- est data published by the National Statistics Office showed. The recovery was mainly achieved on the back of growing minerals output and exports and improved world commodities prices.
The EBRD launched a new Green Economy Financing Facility (GEFF) for Armenia, co- financed by the Green Climate Fund. ArmSwiss Bank, which is the second bank in Armenia to join the GEFF scheme, will receive a €2.5mn loan for lending to SMEs and corporates.
Kazakhstan will start assembling Russian air- craft in 2021. Ilyushin IL-103M and Beriev BE- 103M light multi-purpose aircraft will be manu- factured, along with short-haul BE-132 planes, at a full cycle aviation plant whose construction will start in 4Q19.
The Iranian parliament agreed to release IRR10 trillion ($67mn at the free market rate) from the sale of assets and shares owned by the state, ac- cording to IBENA. The Rouhani administration has been looking at several options to raise cash to pay for essential services and investment in infrastruc- ture while US sanctions remain on the country.