News: Wednesday, July 28, 2010 
Article of the Day
$1.1 Billion Pledged for Kyrgyzstan
By Olga Dzyubenko
Kyrgyzstan secured pledges worth $1.1 billion from international donors on Tuesday to help rebuild after the worst ethnic bloodshed in its modern history.
The World Bank and other international bodies agreed to supply a combination of grants and favorable loans to the interim government of Kyrgyzstan, which expects its economy to shrink in 2010 after hundreds were killed in clashes last month.
Kazakhstan has pledged to follow the Bishkek meeting with another donors conference in Almaty in August.
"The amount pledged today by all participating donors is $1.1 billion over the next 30 months to the end of 2012," Theodore Ahlers, World Bank director of strategy and operations, said at a news conference in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek.
Acting President Roza Otunbayeva, who has led Kyrgyzstan since the overthrow of former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev in April, said the first $600 million would be disbursed as emergency aid during the remaining months of this year.
At least 300 people were killed, and possibly hundreds more, during several days of violence last month in Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet republic hosting U.S. and Russian military air bases and lying on a drug trafficking route out of Afghanistan.
Thousands of homes were torched in the clashes between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks, forcing 400,000 people to flee at the height of the violence and leaving parts of the southern cities of Osh and Jalalabad in ruins.
Otunbayeva said Kyrgyzstan's economy was likely to shrink by 5 percent this year, a sharp reversal of the 5.5 percent growth forecast before the turmoil that began with the April revolt.
She said more than $350 million was needed to rebuild settlements in Osh and Jalalabad regions, plus a further $100 million to reignite the local economy in the south, $180 million for the energy sector and $50 million for food and agriculture.
Aid would also be needed to plug a budget deficit estimated this year at 13.5 percent of gross domestic product, said Chorobek Imashev, finance minister in the interim government.
Ahlers said the aid package would be supplied by the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the European Commission and the Eurasian Development Bank's Anti-Crisis Fund, as well as a number of countries.
Kyrgyzstan is set to become the first parliamentary democracy in Central Asia, a region mainly run by presidential strongmen, after voters approved constitutional changes in a June 27 referendum. Elections are scheduled for October.
"We've heard a strong and clear commitment to reshaping Kyrgyz institutions to ensure they are accountable, that they can deliver the rule of law and provide prosperity for all," said Kori Udovicki, U.N. assistant secretary-general and director of the U.N. Development Program for Europe and the former Soviet Union.
Otunbayeva said some of the grants and loans offered for next year and 2012 would need to be ratified by parliament. She said the breakdown of aid between grants and loans was still a matter of negotiation.
Imashev said Kyrgyzstan's external debt amounted to 61 percent of gross domestic product and could rise by a further 8 to 9 percentage points after the support package is finalized.
Tensions persist in the south, where human rights groups say residents face violence, interrogation and arrest. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe will send an unarmed police force in August.
"In terms of security, the risks are high and the capacity of the government to stabilize the situation is still not quite there," Udovicki said.
The interim government has accused supporters of Bakiyev, the former president, of stoking the violence. Bakiyev, exiled in Belarus, has denied involvement, Reuters reports.
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Kazakhstan General
Economy Spurts 8% in First Half
By Raushan Nurshayeva
Kazakhstan's economy grew at an annual rate of 8 percent in the first half of 2010, boosted by higher oil prices and a recovery
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Oil and Gas Sector
Zhaikmunai Accused of Illegal Exports
The Zhaikmunai oil company has been accused of making illegal oil exports to Finland.
Zhaikmunai exported 31,849 tons of crude to Finland between January 1 and February
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Uralsk Firm gets Major GE Contract
The Uralsk-based company ZKMK has signed a long-term contract to maintain General Electric Oil and Gas’ oil and gas turbines in Central Asia.
Under the contract ZKMK
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BMB Munai discovers Additional Oil
Seismic experts have found 51 million additional barrels of oil in an area that BMB Munai is leasing in western Kazakhstan.
BMB Munai said the oil in
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Energy Industry
Kazakhstan’s High-tech Center Experiment paying off
By W. David Gardner
A few years ago, the nuclear research center in the Kazakhstan town of Kurchatov was dying.
Its once-thriving population of 40,000 had
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Finance and Investment
IMF urges Kazakhstan to clean up Bank Loans
The International Monetary Fund has urged Kazakhstan to take steps to clean up the troubled loan portfolios of its banks.
In an annual review of Kazakhstan’s economy,
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British Investments in Kazakhstan lag Germany, France
British companies are lagging German and French companies in investing in Kazakhstan.
Britain has 102 joint ventures in Kazakhstan, compared with Germany’s 700, according to Albert Rau,
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Bank Deposits Up 3% in June
The value of bank deposits jumped 3 percent in June to 7.25 trillion tenge from 7.04 trillion in May.
If there is no slowdown in the rate
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Metals and Minerals
Ukrainian Pipe Firm opens Atyrau Warehouse
The Ukrainian steel pipe and railway wheel producer Interpipe Corporation has opened a steel pipe- products warehouse in Atyrau.
The company already has warehouses in Almaty and
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Trade and Consumer Goods
Syria wants to join Customs Union
Syria would like to join the free-trade zone that Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus have formed, Syrian President Bashar al- Assad says.
He made the comment during talks
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Price of Fodder Soars 150% in Kostanai Area
A drought-induced shortage of grass has sent the price of fodder up 150 percent in the Kostanai area.
High temperatures and lack of rain have burned up
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Communications and Transportation
Tech Company IBA opens Astana Office
The Prague-based information technology services company IBA Group, which has done major projects in Kazakhstan for 14 years, has opened its first office in the country
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Regional Business News
BP's Hayward to leave as CEO; Russia Job in Works
By Harry R. Weber and Robert Barr
Tony Hayward, who became the face of BP's flailing efforts to contain the massive Gulf oil spill, will step down
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New BP CEO had Tough Russia Experience
BP’s new CEO Bob Dudley got into bare-knuckled battles with some of Russia’s toughest business operators when he ran TNK-BP, BP’s Russian oil venture.
Board meetings at
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Russians, American break Drug Smuggling Ring
By Nataliya Vasilyeva
Russia and the United States have uncovered a cocaine smuggling scheme involving a Russian impresario eager to set up business in Moscow's expensive night
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U.S. Chicken Exports to Russia to resume
By Bill Tomson
U.S. poultry growers will begin sending chickens to Russia end after a seven-month ban the Russians imposed.
Russia’s ban originated from its decision not
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Rosneft’s Profit soars 60% in 2nd Quarter
The profit at Russia's largest oil company surged 60 percent in the second quarter due to higher crude prices and no duties on exports from its
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Russian Firms form Siberian Petroleum Venture
The Russian companies Novatek and Gazprom Neft are teaming up to develop oil and gas in the Yamal-Nenets region of West Siberia.
Gazprom Neft is an oil
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Azerbaijan’s Navy is 2nd-largest in Caspian
Azerbaijani has steadily built the second-largest navy in the Caspian Sea behind Russia.
It has 20 warships, two dozen support vessels and 5,000 officers and sailors. NATO
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Prices and Statistics
Volume and Share Index by Visor Capital
Date: July 28, 2010; Source: Visor Capital
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Market Movers by Visor Capital
Date: July 28, 2010; Source: Visor Capital
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Oil and Gas Prices
Date: July 28, 2010; Source: Bloomberg.com
| Petroleum
($/bbl) |
|
Price* |
Change |
%Change |
Time |
| Nymex Crude Future |
77.69
|
.19
|
.25
|
02:43 |
| Dated Brent Spot |
75.74 |
.65 |
.87 |
02:52 |
| WTI Cushing Spot |
77.50 |
-1.48 |
-1.87
|
07/27 |
| Petroleum
(cent/gal) |
|
Price* |
Change |
%Change |
Time |
| Nymex Heating Oil Future |
200.30
|
.36
|
.18 |
02:21
|
| Nymex RBOB Gasoline Future |
206.23
|
-.09 |
-.04 |
02:42 |
| Natural gas
($/MMBtu) |
|
Price* |
Change |
%Change |
Time |
| Nymex Henry Hub Future |
4.70 |
.02 |
.43 |
02:18 |
| Henry Hub Spot |
4.71 |
.06 |
1.29 |
07/27 |
| New York City Gate Spot |
5.13 |
.09
|
1.79 |
07/27
|
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Commodities
Date: July 28, 2010; Source: Bloomberg.com
| Commodity |
Price |
Change |
%Change |
Time |
| COPPER FUTURE (USd/lb.) |
324.350 |
3.700 |
1.15 |
02:44 |
| GOLD 100 OZ FUTR (USD/t oz.) |
1166.300 |
4.500
|
0.39 |
02:43 |
| SILVER FUTURE (USD/t oz.) |
17.710 |
0.084
|
0.48
|
02:44 |
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Metal Prices
Date: July 28, 2010; Source: Kitco.com
| Silver |
17.73 |
+0.09 |
| Platinum |
1541.00 |
+14.00
|
| Palladium |
470.00 |
+4.00
|
| Rhodium |
2,230.00 |
0.00
|
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Exchange rates
Date: July 28, 2010; Source: the National Bank of Kazakhstan
| 1 USD |
KZT 147.38 |
1 CHF |
KZT 139.33 |
1 CNY |
KZT 21.75 |
1 TRY |
KZT 97.34 |
10 JPY |
KZT 1.69 |
| 1 EUR |
KZT 191.40 |
1 AUD |
KZT 133.17 |
1 KGS |
KZT 3.22 |
1 UZS |
KZT 0.09 |
|
|
| 1 GBP |
KZT 227.76 |
1 CAD |
KZT 142.98 |
1 RUB |
KZT 4.87 |
100 KRW |
KZT 12.48 |
|
|
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