Politics and Macroeconomics -- Kazakhstan Weekly News

Gross Gold and Currency Reserves Fall Slightly

Kazakhstan’s gross gold and currency reserves fell by USD 5.3 million (0.3%) between 14 January and 31 January, the National Bank (NB) reported. Reserves totalled USD 1.937 billion at the end of last month. This figure includes USD 1.428 billion in hard currency reserves, a drop of USD 6.9 million over the second half of January.

The NB attributed the fall in currency reserves to payments made by the Finance Ministry to settle the sovereign debt. Meanwhile, an increase in gold prices helped boost gold reserves by USD 1.6 million (0.3%).

Net gold and currency reserves, which take into account hard currency obligations, grew by USD 11.2 million (0.8%) to about USD 1.479 billion.

Kazakhstan’s monetary base stood at KZT 105.7 billion on 1 February, a decrease of KZT 6.4 billion (5.7%) from mid-January. (Interfax)

CPC Updates Progress on Pipeline, Completion Date Set for Oct. 2001

The Caspian Pipeline Consortium’s (CPC) General Director, Victor Fedotov, visited Atyrau to observe the progress made on Kazakhstan’s section of a pipeline that will connect the Tengiz oil field with the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiisk.

At present, work on the 1,580-km pipeline is on schedule—the Russian side has already laid 12.5% of the pipes and is currently constructing sea terminal facilities. Simultaneously, the modernisation of the old 452-km Tengiz-Astrakhan pipeline is underway. The initial diagnostics on the pipe have been completed and 300 km of fibre-optic lines have been prepared.

Fedotov told journalists that the linear part of the pipeline would be completed as scheduled by this December. The first loading of a Russian tanker with Kazakhstani crude oil is scheduled for 30 July 2001.

The completion of the initial stage of the project, which will boast a pipeline capacity of

28 million tonnes per year, is forecast for October 2001. (Khabar, Golden Eagle Partners)

Kazakhstan Helps Ease Russian Grain Shortage

Kazakhstan shipped a record 534,500 tonnes of grain to Russia in December, helping to ease a grain shortfall for its northern neighbour, SovEcon Ltd. reported. The grain imports from Kazakhstan will allow Russia to direct some of its own low-end grain to cover a shortage in animal feed.

Kazakhstani farmers harvested a respectable 16 million tonnes of grain (gross weight) last year, more than double 1998’s meagre harvest. Despite the December high, grain exports are likely to decrease between January and March as many silos are located far from railway stations and are cut off from transport routes during the winter.

Even so, average grain shipments for the first half of this year could still range between 300,000 and 500,000 tonnes. Total wheat deliveries for the 1999/2000 season are forecast at 3.5 to four million tonnes. (Golden Eagle Partners)

Japanese Delegation Announces Approval of USD 450 m Refinery Modernisation Project

The Japanese Bank of International Co-operation has approved a USD 450 million loan for a project to rebuild the Atyrau Oil Refinery in Kazakhstan. The reconstruction will boost capacity at the refinery to 4.5 million tonnes of oil a year; in the first 11 months of 1999 it refined just over 1.7 million tonnes.

The Kazakhstani national oil company, Kazakhoil, owns 86 percent of the refinery’s shares.

A Chevron-led group of governments and companies is currently building a USD 2.4 billion pipeline to take Kazakhstani oil to international markets through the Black Sea port in Novorossiisk, Russia. (Bloomberg)

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