Page 11 - bne_newspaper_November_17_2017 700

The Regions This Week
November 17, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 11
Eurasia
Georgia's cabinet will be reshuffled to reduce
costs and improve efficiency, Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili said. Four ministries - environment and mineral resources, energy, sports and youth and corrections - will merge with the agriculture, economy, culture and justice ministries.
The Uzbek central bank cancelled the requirement for commercial banks to own
a specific hard currency operations licence. Reform-minded President Shavkat Mirziyoyev lifted currency controls in September to help Uzbekistan draw in more foreign investors. The move makes it possible to repatriate profits in hard currency.
The UK hopes to soon settle a longstanding dispute with Iran over around £300mn owed for Chieftain tanks ordered by Tehran in 1976 but never delivered. UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson will deal with the matter during an upcoming visit to Iran. The Iranians paid £600mn upfront to a UK defence ministry subsidiary for 1,750 Chieftain tanks but only 185 arrived prior to an arms ban introduced after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The largest Kazakh bank Kazkommertsbank (KKB) secured an equity increase of $196mn from Almex Holding in return for a 25% stake. Almex is the parent company of second largest lender Halyk Bank which at the behest of the Kazakh government is taking over KKB to solve its chronic problems with bad loans.
The CEO of Total acknowledged the French energy major would have to review its multi- billion-dollar Iranian South Pars gas field investment should the US opt to impose fresh major unilateral sanctions on Tehran. Patrick Pouyanne pointed out that Total has major assets in the US. The project is seen as a flagship project in Iran's attempt at securing a foreign investment revival.
Tajikistan plans to borrow $850mn in 2018-2020
for “the country's exit from a communication impasse, achieving energy independence and ensuring food security". Central Asia's poorest nation in September raised $500mn from its inaugural international bond priced at 7.125% for a 10-year term.
Azerbaijan's flag carrier Azal signed a $1.9bn deal to buy five Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner jets and two Boeing 747-8F aircraft.
Iran's President Hassan Rouhani implied that in many cases state-built buildings collapsed while privately-built ones remained standing during the 7.3-magnitude earthquake that hit an Iranian-Iraqi border area on November 12, killing at least 430 people. He vowed to “find the culprits” responsible while visiting the worst-hit city, Sarpol-e Zahab.
The Mongolia Stock Exchange (MSE) Top 20 Index is up by around 74% ytd, giving it the largest gain among all benchmarks tracked
by Bloomberg. The growth has been driven by commodities. Coal companies have been buoyed by soaring coal exports on new demand in in China – now unable to import North Korean coal due to sanctions
Kazakhstan’s KazMunayGas sold the small Euro- Asia Air airline as part of the country's ongoing privatisation programme. No exact dates were yet available on the plan to privatise stakes of at least 25% in 45 large state companies including Air Astana and Kazatomprom.
Iran is taking control of oil exports from Iraqi Kurdistan's giant Kirkuk field with Baghdad authorising the move as a reward for the Iranians' help in quelling the Kurds' late September push for independence from Iraq. To secure the spoils, Iran is restarting a project to construct an oil pipeline running to central Iran and onwards to export terminals on the Persian Gulf.