Azerbaijan, for two decades a reliable energy supplier for the West, may reconsider that “partnership” as Europe drags its feet over the proposed Nabucco pipeline and the Caspian country sees its hope that it could eventually join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization extinguished.
Continue reading →The European Council, in a meeting principally devoted to determining the European Union’s policy towards its eastern members and preparing an EU position for next week’s Group of 20 summit in London, also took an important decision last week on … Continue reading →
Talk of a Putin Medvedev split is no longer only talk, as the economic crisis already pulls the two further apart regardless of their intentions, but any rumor of the conflict producing an open schism is highly premature. In recent weeks, President Dmitry … Continue reading →
An agreement was announced late last month between Russia and China for China energy FDI to construct a pipeline branch to China from the East Siberia-Pacific Ocean (ESPO) oil pipeline. This is only one aspect of a relatively new strategic … Continue reading →
The global fall in prices of key earners oil and gas is making the Kazakhstan tenge weak. The roiled economy may have to let its currency weaken further following the 18 per cent devaluation earlier last week as the current … Continue reading →
Russia’s foreign currency reserves are being fast eroded as the government tries in vain to brake the Russian ruble decline under tumbling commodity prices. Look for Russia to follow the road to a still more authoritarian state.
Continue reading →The Kazakhstan financial crisis, where the economy has endured a switchback progress since independence from the Kremlin in 1991, is discovering the benefits of salting away wealth in the good times as it seeks to survive the global downturn without … Continue reading →
The Russian equity flight, hit hard by declines in world energy and commodity prices and done no favors by the Kremlin’s invasion Georgia last month, is accelerating to a faster pace.
Continue reading →The Ukraine financial crisis, exacerbated by political turmoil and including the banking sector, has driven the principal national stock equities indicator, the PFTS Index, down 78 per cent from a high of 1,209 in mid-March to 266 on Monday. The … Continue reading →
Moscow’s equity markets, whose benchmark measure has declined with increasing rapidity since the start of the year, reflect the fact that the invasion of Georgia has made the Russian downturn worse. The dollar-denominated RTS index is down 33 per cent … Continue reading →