Page 9 - bne_newspaper_October_20_2017

The Regions This Week
October 20, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 9
Eurasia
Kazakhstan's largest telecom operator Ka- zakhtelecom may become the first of three large state-run companies to make an IPO in 2018, an official at the Samruk Kazyna sovereign wealth fund said. Air Astana and uranium enterprise Kaz- atomprom, which have assigned investment banks and legal advisers, are the other two.
Uzbekistan leased Russian billionaire and ethnic-Uzbek Alisher Usmanov’s private jet for President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s overseas trips. There is speculation that Mirziyoyev escaped
an assassination attempt linked to some state security services (SNB) figures who are losing out amid his reforms.
Donald Trump warned Congress to fix the Iran nuclear deal, or he might nix it. The very same day, Iranian officials met banking officials in Washington DC, signing for a South Korean line of credit worth $8bn, and reports said Beijing was moving ahead with a $10bn loan while credit guarantee commitments were reconfirmed by France, Denmark and Italy, among others.
CEE Bankwatch hit out at the EBRD’s decision
to lend $500mn for the Trans Anatolian
Pipeline (TANAP), saying it was inappropriate given Azerbaijan's withdrawal from the EITI organisation that oversees transparency in extractive industries and its current human rights and corruption record. EBRD said the project is of strategic importance for the region and Europe.
Mongolia’s trade surplus expanded 64.2% y/y to $1.5bn in the first nine months amid increased demand for commodities in China, its main trade partner. Exports surged by 37.5% y/y to $4.6bn mainly thanks to higher Chinese orders for Mongolian coal shipments.
In Moscow, Iranian central bank representatives signed a memorandum with the Export Insurance Agency of Russia (EXIAR) to help co- financing in the public and private spheres.
Kazakhstan launched gas exports to China with the transiting of gas from its Beineu-Bozoy- Shymkent pipeline to the Central Asia-China gas pipeline. State-owned KazTransGas has agreed to supply 5bn cubic metres (cm) of gas to China’s PetroChina for about $1bn.
Kazakhstan's KazKontrakt Group is to buy airliner jet fuel from Azerbaijan's SOCAR amid serious shortages caused by falling supplies from Russia and an upcoming production stoppage at Shymkent oil refinery.
Uzbekistan expressed interest in buying Iranian crude oil, while Tehran and Tashkent said they were looking to further broaden economic ties while mutually improving their banking and visa issuance regimes to boost trade.
Tajikistan drew up an LGBT register of 319 gay men and 48 lesbians supposedly to protect sexual minorities and “prevent the spreading of sexual diseases”.
Norway’s Saga Energy signed a €2.5bn deal with Iran’s Amin Energy Developers to build a 2-gigawatt solar power plant in a desert region of central Iran. The company is reportedly leaning on the Norwegian government’s state export guarantee fund to cover the project.
Kazakhstan’s economy grew by 4.3% y/y in the first nine months. Growth measured 4.2% in the first half. GDP expansion in 2016 was just 1%. Foreign investment in the Armenian economy rose by 36.6% y/y to over $1bn in the first half-year. Of the amount, FDI amounted to $328mn, marking a 26.3% y/y increase.
Iran’s Petroleum Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh declared the Islamic Republic remains willing to negotiate oil and gas field development deals with US enterprises despite the hostility shown to the country and nuclear deal by Donald Trump.