Kazakhstan Weekly

Corporate News

Monday January 10, 2000

Oil & Gas

Hurricane Hydrocarbons Ltd. (“Hurricane”) confirmed today the signing, on December 27, 1999, of comprehensive agreements with a subsidiary of Russian LUKOIL Oil Company (“LUKOIL”) regarding the management and operation of the Kumkol-LUKOIL joint venture in Kazakhstan. Hurricane and LUKOIL are each 50% shareholders of CJSC Kumkol-LUKOIL, which owns and operates the Kumkol North oil field.

Kazakhstan Weekly

Financial Markets

Monday January 10, 2000

Currency Rates

(Note: The National Bank sets the official rate twice a week)

National Bank Begins Return of Recalculated Tenge Deposits

The National Bank of Kazakhstan revealed that domestic banks have begun recovering individual converted deposits that were frozen in banks after the devaluation of the tenge currency on April 5, 1999, Interfax-Kazakhstan reported.

In order to ease the pain of last April's devaluation, the Kazakhstani government and National Bank gave the nation's individual bank depositors the option of keeping their savings in the bank for at least a 9-month period.  In exchange, the central bank promised to recalculate tenge deposits based on the pre-devaluation exchange rate of 88.3 KZT/USD.

The National Bank said domestic banks will begin giving back converted deposits to clients according to the terms stipulated in their contracts.

Depositors will have the opportunity to take their money out in any currency or deposit the readjusted tenge amount for a new term. (Golden Eagle Partners)

Fixed Income

Primary Auctions

On 6 November, the Finance Ministry and the National Bank conducted the 25th auction of dollar-denominated 6-month T-bills. The Finance Ministry raised USD 2.6 million falling short of its target of USD 3.0 million. However, it kept the average yield unchanged.

Latest issues of 6-month $-denominated T-bills

Overall, during the week which ended on 10 November the Finance Ministry raised KZT 2,317.7 million. (IRBIS)

Equities

Last week the volume of deals on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE) reached USD 35,800, almost a threefold increase over the previous week. The securities traded during this period included common shares in the Halyk Savings Bank of Kazakhstan (HSBK, listing A), preferred shares in MangistauMunaiGas (MMGZp, listing B) and preferred shares in the Karaganda Margarine Plant (KMRZ, unlisted securities). See the following table for details. (KASE)

Kazakhstan Weekly

Politics & Macro Economics

Monday January 10, 2000

PM Confirms The 2000 Privatisation Programme

The government of Kazakhstan will continue to implement the privatisation programme in 2000.  “Neither a roll-back, nor a slowing down in the pace of privatisation can be allowed,” Kazakh Prime Minister Kasymzhomart Tokayev told the cabinet at its first meeting this year on Tuesday. He confirmed that the privatisation of state property will be continued this year and that the blue chips programme will be implemented. He said that Kazakhstan is expected to gain over USD400 million from privatisation in 2000.

Kazakhstan Weekly

Corporate News

Monday January 17, 2000

Oil & Gas

The national oil company, Kazakhoil, its Atyrau Refinery affiliate, and the Japanese firm Marubeni Corporation plan to sign a contract by the end of March for the renovation of the Atyrau Refinery, a source close to Kazakhoil told the Prime-Tass news agency.

The Japanese side is expected to prepare a contract by the end of February.

Kazakhstan Weekly

Financial Markets

Monday January 17, 2000

Currency Rates

(Note: The National Bank sets the official rate twice a week)

Fixed Income

Primary Auctions

On 6 November, the Finance Ministry and the National Bank conducted the 25th auction of dollar-denominated 6-month T-bills. The Finance Ministry raised USD 2.6 million falling short of its target of USD 3.0 million. However, it kept the average yield unchanged.

Latest issues of 6-month $-denominated T-bills 

Overall, during the week which ended on 10 November the Finance Ministry raised KZT 2,317.7 million. (IRBIS)

Equities

In the period between 6 and 12 January 2000 shares of 6 equities were traded on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE), namely Bank Turan Alem (BTAS); Halyk Savings Bank of Kazakhstan (HSBK, Listing A); Kazakhtelecom (KZTKp, Listing B); Temirbank (TEBN); MangystauMunaiGas (MMGZp) and AktobeMumaiGas (AMGZp). The total volume of trade was USD 190,200. The largest trade volume was registered with HSBK shares. (KASE, Panorama)

Kazakhstan Weekly

Politics & Macro Economics

Monday January 17, 2000

Tenge Drops 64.6% in 1999

The exchange rate of Kazakhstan’s national currency, the tenge, dropped 64.6% in 1999 (10.7% in 1998) to 138.25 tenge/USD 1 by the end of the year, the National Bank (NB) of Kazakhstan’s Chairman, Grigory Marchenko, said at a press conference. The tenge suffered its worst drop in value (30.3%) after it was allowed to float freely against the U.S. dollar on 5 April 1999. The exchange rate was 88.3 tenge/USD 1 at the time.  Marchenko said that in the following months the soft decline of the tenge was the result of a relative currency exchange balance.

Kazakhstan Weekly

Company News

Monday January 24, 2000

Air Transportation

The Air Kazakhstan Group (AKG) and the international Russian airline Aeroflot are close to signing an agreement on global partnership.

The President of AKG, Alexander Krinichansky, told a group of government officials that the agreement on global partnership will provide AKG with access to Aeroflot’s sales system, along with the opportunity to fly through Moscow to international destinations, including North America, for the first time. He added that he is optimistic that, if the agreement is signed, AKG will carry at least 50,000 of the 253,000 passengers who travel to Kazakhstan each year.

Kazakhstan Weekly

Financial Markets

Monday January 24, 2000

Currency Rates

(Note: The National Bank sets the official rate twice a week)

Fixed Income

Primary Auctions

On 6 November, the Finance Ministry and the National Bank conducted the 25th auction of dollar-denominated 6-month T-bills. The Finance Ministry raised USD 2.6 million falling short of its target of USD 3.0 million. However, it kept the average yield unchanged.

Latest issues of 6-month $-denominated T-bills

Overall, during the week which ended on 10 November the Finance Ministry raised KZT 2,317.7 million. (IRBIS)

Equities

In the period between 13 and 19 January 2000 shares in only 1 company were traded on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE), namely Kazakhtelecom (KZTKp, Listing B). The volume of two transactions on this equity was USD 821,100. (KASE, Panorama)

Kazakhstan Weekly

Politics & Macro Economics

Monday January 24, 2000

Deputy PM Unveils Economic Forecast for 2000

According to international experts, Kazakhstan’s gross domestic product (GDP) will equal nearly USD 1,000 per capita in the year 2000, Interfax reported, quoting a speech by Deputy Prime Minister Erzhan Utembaev. The number, equivalent to about USD 15 billion, is “a bad figure”, according to Utembaev.

Kazakhstan Weekly

Corporate News

Monday February 7, 2000

Oil & Gas

The Calgary-based company Hurricane Hydro-carbons Ltd. announced on Monday that an Alberta court has extended the company’s bankruptcy protection until 25 February 2000. Hurricane also filed an amended restructuring plan to the court on how the company will handle repayments to its creditors. The court will review the plan on February 7 and has set February 22 as the date for any creditor meeting.

Kazakhstan Weekly

Financial Markets

Monday February 7, 2000

Equities

In the period between 27 January and 2 February 2000 the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE) registered 11 transactions with a total volume of USD 3,816,900. The largest transaction was made with the shares of Voskhod (VOCH, non-listed) at USD 2.5 million or 68.1% of KASE’s weekly volume. Other equities traded were the common and preferred shares of Kazakhmys (KZMS, KZMSp), Mangistau-MunaiGas (MMGZp), Neftekhimbank (NFCH). See the following table for details. (KASE, Panorama)

Currency Rates

Kazakhstan Weekly

Politics & Macro Economics

Monday February 7, 2000

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.