News: Friday, July 02, 2010 
Article of the Day
Kazakhstan's economy surged 8% in first half
By Kanat Kulshmanov
The economy surged 8 percent in the first half of the year, a jubilant President Nursultan Nazarbayev announced at the Third Astana Economic Forum.
Meanwhile, inflation in the first six months of the year was 4.4 percent, the Statistics Agency of Kazakhstan reported.
The economic-growth showing, one of the world’s best, indicated that the government’s recovery program is working, kazinform.kz quoted Nazarbayev as saying.
Growth in gross domestic product began kicking in late last year, allowing Kazakhstan to end 2009 with an economy that was 1.4 percent larger than in 2008. Most of the world’s economies shrank last year.
The figures show that “Kazakhstan prevented recession and preserved economic growth,” the president said.
The economic crisis that began in 2007 has been “a serious challenge for us,” Nazarbayev said.
The government’s measures to combat it have proved effective, however, he said.
Inflation in June was 0.2 of a percent, the Statistics Agency reported.
Food prices increased 0.1 of a percent between May and June, and non-food prices 0.5 of a percent, the agency said.
Prices for services rose 0.1 of a percent.
The prices of a number of foods decreased in June. They included sugar, down 1.9 percent; bakery and cereal products , 0.4 of a percent; rice, 1.2 %; flour, 2.2 percent; milk, 5.9 percent; other dairy products, 0.9 of a percent; eggs; 6.9 percent; vegetables as a whole, 0.8 of a percent; tomatoes, 10.2 percent; and cucumbers, 11.7 percent.
Foods whose prices increased included potatoes, 1.5 percent; fruit, 1 percent; animal oils, 0.9 of a percent; meat and poultry, 0.8 of a percent; and soft drinks, 0.5 of a percent.
Non-food price increases included clothes and footwear, 0.4 of a percent; medicine, 0.6 of a percent; construction materials, 1.2 percent; tobacco products, 2.3 percent; gasoline 2.5 percent; and diesel fuel, 0.5 of a percent.
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Kazakhstan General
Astana Economic Forum opens
The Third Astana Economic Forum opened Thursday with notables from the world of politics, business, economics and other fields flying in to take part.
President Nursultan Nazarbayev
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Nazarbayev touts Eurasian Integration
President Nursultan Nazarbayev has called for the European Union-style integration of Eurasia, Kazakhstan Today reports.
He said Eurasian countries need to take the concrete step of coming
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Nazarbayev proposes OSCE economic guidebook
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe needs an economic guidebook to help its members develop, President Nursultan Nazarbayev says.
He noted that the Group
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New Mini-Series highlights Astana
By Paul Bartlett
A new television mini-series, “Astana, My Love,” showcasing Kazakhstan’s glittering capital, hit the air Thursday in the run-up to celebrations for the capital’s July
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A Movie about Love and War among Russians and Kazakhs
The new Kazakhstan movie “Song from the Southern Seas” focuses on the divisive and tragic consequences of racism in a country that today has 131 nationalities.
The
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Turkey is still the top overseas vacation spot for Kazakhs
By Yuliya Islamgulova from Astana
Kazakhstan travel agencies say their international tourism business has been flat this year, according to the Focus business newspaper.
The overseas destinations
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Kazakhstan Expands Methadone-Therapy Program for Heroin Addicts
By Tatyana Borisova
Kazakhstan has taken the first step toward making a methadone treatment program for heroin addicts available nationwide, the Focus business newspaper reports.
The National
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Oil and Gas Sector
Pavlodar Petrochemical Plant shut down for repairs
The Pavlodar Petrochemical Plant, which performs a lot of Kazakhstan’s oil refining, has been shut down for a month for repairs.
The work at Kazakhstan’s largest
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Kazakhstan extends ban on oil exports
The Ministry of Oil and Gas wants to extend a ban on exports of gasoline and some other kinds of fuel until November 1 to help
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Kazakhstan wants to ensure no Gulf-type oil spill
By Oksana Sherbakova
The oil-rig disaster in the Gulf of Mexico has prompted Prime Minister Karim Massimov to order government officials to take a fresh look
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Finance and Investment
Nazarbayev calls for International Currency
The world needs an international currency to provide stability to the global economic system, President Nursultan Nazarbayev says.
Such a currency would eliminate distortions caused by the
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Moody’s lowers Nurbank Rating
Moody's Investors Service has lowered its ratings on Almaty-based Nurbank’s deposits and unsecured debt to B3 from B2, according to cbonds.info.
"In the medium term, Nurbank is
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Kazakhstan hopes to increase credit lines from China
By Damir Baimanov
Kazakhstan hopes to obtain even more lines of Chinese credit this year than the $13 billion it got in 2009, the chairman of Kazakhstan’s
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Metals and Minerals
Russia's Polyus Gold up on KazakhGold's $9.4 billion bid
By Alfred Kueppers
Shares in Russia’s Polyus Gold jumped after KazakhGold unveiled the details of a long-planned reverse takeover to create a $10.8 billion group that will
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Aker Solutions wins Kazakhmys contract
The Norwegian engineering group Aker Solutions has won a $15-million contract for a feasibility study of Kazakhmys’ plan to build a plant to process the copper
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Trade and Consumer Goods
Supermarkets offer online ordering
Fifteen Kazakhstan supermarkets let customers order online, according to caspionet.kz
Six of the 15 are in Almaty, it quoted Internet experts as saying.
More Kazakhstanis are ordering both
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Nazarbayev wants New Focus on Food Supplies
By Damir Baimanov
The international community needs to develop new technologies for increasing the food supply, President Nursultan Nazarbayev says.
And it needs to start now, he emphasized.
A
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Real Estate
Low-income Families obtain New Housing
More than 200 families have moved into new government-built low-income apartments in Astana, according to caspionet.kz.
Apartments for another 1,000 families will be finished by the end
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Regional Business News
Belarus maneuvers ahead of Customs Union
By Irina Filatova
Belarus raised the transit fees for Russian oil products flowing through its pipelines Thursday, in a move seen as last-minute maneuvering ahead of its
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Russian Mathematician rejects $1 Million Prize
By Malcolm Ritter
He said nyet to $1 million.
Grigory Perelman, a reclusive Russian mathematics genius who made headlines earlier this year for not immediately embracing a lucrative
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Spy suspect’s father works at Russian ministry
By Luke Harding and Tom Parfitt
The father of the alleged Russian spy Anna Chapman is a senior diplomat in Russia's ministry of foreign affairs, Russian media
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Hillary Clinton to calm US allies on Eastern Europe, Caucasus trip
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton traveled to Eastern Europe and the troubled Caucasus region Thursday on a mission to allay the concerns of regional allies over
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Ethnic Uzbek Farmers fear Hunger in Ravaged Kyrgyz Fields
By Simon Shuster
Ethnic Uzbek farmers, returning to Kyrgyzstan after fleeing a blood-drenched wave of ethnic violence, are finding their crops plundered, choked by weeds and withering
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Prices and Statistics
Volume and Share Index by Visor Capital
Date: July 2, 2010; Source: Visor Capital
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Market Movers by Visor Capital
Date: July 2, 2010; Source: Visor Capital
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Oil and Gas Prices
Date: July 2, 2010; Source: Bloomberg.com
| Petroleum
($/bbl) |
|
Price* |
Change |
%Change |
Time |
| Nymex Crude Future |
73.00
|
.05
|
.07
|
02:43 |
| Dated Brent Spot |
71.76 |
.28 |
.40 |
02:53 |
| WTI Cushing Spot |
72.95 |
-2.68 |
-3.54
|
07/01 |
| Petroleum
(cent/gal) |
|
Price* |
Change |
%Change |
Time |
| Nymex Heating Oil Future |
194.11
|
.26
|
.13 |
02:40
|
| Nymex RBOB Gasoline Future |
199.59
|
-.17 |
-.09 |
02:36 |
| Natural gas
($/MMBtu) |
|
Price* |
Change |
%Change |
Time |
| Nymex Henry Hub Future |
4.85 |
-.00 |
-.06 |
02:41 |
| Henry Hub Spot |
4.54 |
.01 |
.22 |
07/01 |
| New York City Gate Spot |
4.79 |
.02
|
.42 |
07/01
|
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Commodities
Date: July 2, 2010; Source: Bloomberg.com
| Commodity |
Price |
Change |
%Change |
Time |
| COPPER FUTURE (USd/lb.) |
294.600 |
6.900 |
2.40 |
02:59 |
| GOLD 100 OZ FUTR (USD/t oz.) |
1208.900 |
2.200
|
0.18 |
02:59 |
| SILVER FUTURE (USD/t oz.) |
17.975 |
0.185
|
1.04
|
02:59 |
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Metal Prices
Date: July 2, 2010; Source: Kitco.com
| Silver |
18.02 |
+0.26 |
| Platinum |
1516.00 |
+16.00
|
| Palladium |
437.00 |
+6.00
|
| Rhodium |
2,440.00 |
0.00
|
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Exchange rates
Date: July 2, 2010; Source: the National Bank of Kazakhstan
| 1 USD |
KZT 147.48 |
1 CHF |
KZT 137.59 |
1 CNY |
KZT 21.75 |
1 TRY |
KZT 93.18 |
10 JPY |
KZT 1.67 |
| 1 EUR |
KZT 181.39 |
1 AUD |
KZT 123.65 |
1 KGS |
KZT 3.22 |
1 UZS |
KZT 0.09 |
|
|
| 1 GBP |
KZT 220.01 |
1 CAD |
KZT 138.39 |
1 RUB |
KZT 4.72 |
100 KRW |
KZT 12.01 |
|
|
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