Page 9 - bne_newspaper_July_13_2018

The Regions This Week
July 13, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 9
Eurasia
US government officials hinted that they will
not allow aircraft makers to continue to work with Iran, despite calls for exemptions from the recently suggested sanctions, according to Flight Global. US officials have been ramping up plans in recent weeks to target any high profile company working with Iranian counterparts, whether
they be related to the nuclear deal or partly government owned.
Kazakhstan's GDP grew by 4.1% in the first
half of 2018, the Minister of Economy Timur Suleimenov told a press conference. The growth is in line with forecasts by the Kazakh government and the EBRD for GDP growth of 3.5%-4% in
2018 due to favourable international economic conditions.
Mongolia will raise its renewable energy capacity by 120 MW this year. The Central Asian nation hopes to generate 20% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020 and 30% by 2030.
The Tajik State Service of Veterinary Control banned imports of non-Halal meat products. Only “accredited foreign suppliers” will be able to import meat products into the former Soviet state from now on.
Georgia exported 38.2 million bottles of wine in the first half of 2018, a 21% y/y increase, the National Wine Agency said. Of the 48 countries that import Georgian wine, the largest market is Russia, which imported over 24mn bottles of Georgian wine.
Chinese oil importers are committed to purchasing orders from Iran despite the upcoming imposition of sanctions by the US in August. The US is pressuring Asian and African states to decrease oil imports from Iran.
Levon Sargsyan, the brother of Armenia’s former president Serzh Sargsyan, was charged with conducting illegal business activity. The
Armenian law enforcement authorities have moved swiftly against members of Sargsyan’s family and other figures close to the country’s former ruler after Sargsyan was forced to stand down as prime minister.
Turkmenistan’s economy expanded by 6.2%
in the first half of 2018, President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov told a cabinet session. The Turkmen government has been reporting growth at 6%-6.5% in recent years, but official statistical information provided by the closed Central Asian country is unreliable.
Uzbekistan will construct a nuclear power plant by 2028, the Times of Central Asia reported. In June, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has announced plans to jumpstart construction of a nuclear power plant by the end of 2018 in partnership with Russia.
Kyrgyzstan’s economic growth stood at 0.1% y/y in the first half of 2018, compared to the 5.6%
y/y growth recorded in the same period of 2017, said the National Statistical Committee. However, when the flagship Kumtor gold mine’s contribu- tion to Kyrgyz GDP is subtracted, growth stands at 2.1% y/y, compared to 2% y/y in the same period of 2017, indicating the slump in growth is due to a slowdown of production at Kumtor.
Passenger traffic at Azerbaijan’s Heydar Aliyev International Airport increased by 14% in
the first six months of 2018, reaching 1.96mn people. Almost half of the passengers, 815,000 people, were carried by national airline Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL), with a further 216,000 travelling with Azerbaijani low-cost carrier Buta Airways.
The number of Kazakh property deals grew by 6.6% m/m to 23,840 in June, according to statistical office data. In the January–June period, property deals jumped by 6.5% y/y. The rise in the number of property deals is in line with the general trend of economic recovery in Kazakhstan.