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The Regions This Week
February 1, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 9
Eurasia
Central Asian nations were among the worst performers in Transparency International’s Cor- ruption Perceptions Index 2018. All five Central Asian nations received less than the global aver- age of 43 points. The low scores are no surprise given the Soviet legacy in Central Asia, where investors know that corruption continues to stand as one of the main impediments to fair business.
Kyrgyzstan promised cuts of recovered money to citizens and police who report on corrupt officials. Kyrgyz President Sooronbai Jeenbekov signed off the law, aiming to tackle corruption that stands as one factor crippling Kyrgyzstan’s economy.
Mongolia launched a campaign to promote the development of its banking sector, Xinhua news agency reported. The six-month campaign aims to raise public participation in securing the quality of banking sector services and operations by pro- moting more involved customer feedback.
The Asian Development Bank approved a $2mn regional technical assistance grant to support the development of railway-links in Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) countries. CAREC partners include Afghanistan, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, China, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
Kazakhstan launched Central Asia’s largest so- lar power plant to date, SES Saran, with a capac- ity of 100MW in Karaganda Region, the Times of Central Asia reported. The Kazakh energy minis- try announced plans earlier this year to raise the share of renewable energy sources (RES) in the country’s total electricity output to 3% by 2020 from the current 1%.
Big numbers of bargain-hunting Azerbaijanis at- tracted by the collapse of the Iranian rial drove up Iran’s foreign arrivals by 56% y/y in the first
10 months of the 2018/2019 Persian calendar year (March 21-January 20). Iran’s definition of a tour- ist is "a foreigner who visits the country for a brief period", thus the figure includes those hopping over the border from its neighbours.
Tajikistan’s northern regions started receiving Uzbek electricity this winter “after a long break”, Asia Plus reported, citing Minister of Energy and Water Resources of Tajikistan Usmonali Usmon- zoda. The Tajik city of Kanibadam and neighbour- ing settlements started receiving 3mn kWh of electricity per day.
The Monetary Policy Committee of the National Bank of Georgia cut its refinancing rate by 25bp to a still restrictive rate of 6.75%. The central bank sees headline inflation around 3% in the medium term.
The Armenian prime minister’s administration is slashing the number of official cars from 50 to just seven. Following the cutbacks, only Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, his deputies and the secretary of the National Security Council will continue to use official cars and drivers.
Iran was the largest importer of Uzbek cotton fi- bre in 2018, Podrobno.uz has reported citing data from the Uzbek State Statistics Committee. Trade between Iran and Uzbekistan continues to grow, despite hurdles in international banking related to sanctions on Tehran. Payments for the cotton were likely facilitated by the sole Uzbek branch of Iran’s Bank Saderat.
Kazakh and Azerbaijani oil companies signed a memorandum of understanding on joint explo- ration of the Caspian Sea, the Oil & Gas Journal reported. The agreement between state-owned KazMunayGas and Socar includes the refurbish- ment of Kazakhstan’s jack up rig in Baku. Socar will use the KazMunayGas-owned Satti rig for drilling in the Caspian.