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Rahmon extends Tajikistan’s moratorium on business inspections to 1 January 2029
Emomali Rahmon told entrepreneurs and investors on 14 October that the moratorium on inspections of businesses runs two more years, to 1 January 2029, with tax inspections excepted, and that business registration, permits and licensing must move online by the end of 2027, Asia-Plus reported from his press service.
China Nerin’s half-year report prices its Togolok contract with Kumtor at $112.8 million
A Chinese contractor’s filing has put a number on the mine Kumtor is building beside its main pit: China Nerin Engineering Technology signed a $112.8 million engineering, procurement and construction contract with Kumtor Operating Company on 23 April for the Togolok gold plant, tailings facility and infrastructure, Economist.kg reported on 14 October from the company’s first-half report.
Tashkent drafts a 5,000-soum propane price from 1 November and a 3,000-soum subsidy
Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Economy and Finance has published a draft resolution that sets the retail price of liquefied gas for households at 5,000 soums a kilogram from 1 November, 2.5 times the current 2,000, and pays needy families back 3,000 soums a kilogram on up to 20 kilograms a month until 1 January 2030.
Kazakhstan’s official rate is 448.45 tenge to the dollar for 14 October after two falls
Kazakhstan’s official rate for 14 October is 448.45 tenge to the dollar, down 2.86 from 451.31 for 13 October, which was itself 2.62 below the 453.93 that held for Saturday 10 October and Monday 12 October. The euro is at 501.59.
ADB lends Baku $302 million for metro signalling inside a $2.6 billion expansion
The Asian Development Bank approved a $302.38 million loan on 13 October to replace Baku Metro’s signalling with communications-based train control and to digitalise its operations. The project costs $515.07 million, with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank adding $79.98 million and the government $132.71 million, and sits inside a state programme the bank puts at $2.6 billion.
Tokayev puts Belgian investment since 2005 at $15 billion as King Philippe arrives
Belgian investment in Kazakhstan has exceeded $15 billion since 2005, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said at a joint briefing with King Philippe on Monday, the first day of a state visit by the king and Queen Mathilde. A business forum, a rectors’ forum and a round table on critical minerals follow on Tuesday, with dozens of agreements expected, by Tengrinews’s account of the president’s remarks.
The World Bank adds more than $40 million for Tajik agro-logistics and preschool classes
Finance minister Faiziddin Qahhorzoda and the World Bank’s resident representative signed two additional financing agreements on 11 October: $7.5 million to finish an agro-logistics centre in Dangara district and equip one in Dushanbe, and €30 million, $33.6 million, to extend the early childhood development programme to four more districts with 300 preschool classes, Asia-Plus reported on Tuesday. A further $4.5 million comes from the Global Financing Facility.
The IMF slows seven of nine regional economies in 2026 and lifts Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan
The IMF’s October World Economic Outlook, published on Tuesday, has growth slowing this year in seven of the nine economies CAW covers, with Kyrgyzstan still the fastest at 9% and Azerbaijan the slowest at 1.7%. Uzbekistan edges up to 7.8% and Azerbaijan gains too, from 1.4%. World growth slows to 3.1% in 2026 and recovers to 3.4% in 2027, the Fund says.
Uzbekistan’s reserves fall $5.5 billion in September as its gold is marked down
The Central Bank of Uzbekistan held $66.58 billion in reserves on 1 October, $5.54 billion or 7.7% less than a month earlier, Spot reported on Friday from the bank’s data. Gold in the vaults was valued at $60.08 billion, down $4.83 billion, while the physical stock rose to 14.34 million ounces from 14.11 million. The fall is a revaluation.
Dushanbe lays the stone of an 8.5 million-passenger terminal with no price and no builder
Emomali Rahmon laid the foundation stone of a new international terminal at Dushanbe airport on Friday, with the chairman of the Majlisi Milli and the city’s mayor, Rustami Emomali, beside him, Khovar reported at 17:59. Capacity is put at 8.5 million passengers a year and the build at 18 months. Khovar names no cost, no contractor and no source of money.
Amulsar opens with the state at 12.5% and three towns promised $7 to 9 million a year
Nikol Pashinyan launched operations at the Amulsar gold mine on Saturday, saying the minerals “that turned into gold before our eyes today belong to the Republic of Armenia”, Armenpress reported. Lydian Armenia operates it with the state at 12.5%. Gnel Sanosyan, the government’s representative on the operator’s board, said Jermuk, Vayk and Sisian would receive $7 to 9 million a year and Jermuk National Park $5 million.
Mongolia’s exports rise 51% in nine months to $16.2 billion on copper and coal
Mongolia sold $16.2 billion of goods abroad in January to September, 51.2% or $5.5 billion more than a year earlier, the National Statistics Committee reported through Montsame on Monday. Imports rose 13.8% to $9.7 billion and the trade surplus tripled to $6.5 billion. Copper ore and concentrate supplied $3.1 billion of the increase and coal $2 billion.
The tenge’s official rate steps to 453.93 for the weekend and holds there for Monday
The National Bank set the official dollar rate at 453.93 tenge for Saturday 10 October and kept it for Monday, by its daily series. That is 4.99 above Friday’s 448.94. Last week ran from 447.73 to 454.98 and back to 447.14, and the bank’s next rate decision is on 23 October.
Russia’s watchdog halts wine, cognac, beer and Nabeglavi water from six Georgian producers
Russia’s consumer watchdog ordered a halt to the import and sale of drinks from six Georgian producers, Rossiyskaya Gazeta reported on Saturday, citing an order obtained by RBC. On the list are wines from Tbilvino, Teliani Valley, Wineman and Askaneli Brothers, whose cognac is also named, beer from the Georgian Beer Company, Nabeglavi mineral water and one Coca-Cola soft drink. The order calls itself a temporary sanitary measure.
Azerbaijan’s GDP grows 1.5% in nine months as the oil sector shrinks 1.2%
Azerbaijan’s gross domestic product reached 102.0 billion manats in January to September, 1.5 per cent more than a year earlier, the State Statistics Committee reported on Friday, with the oil and gas sector down 1.2 per cent to 30.3 billion and the rest of the economy up 2.6 per cent to 71.7 billion. Budget revenue ran 2.8 per cent above plan.
S&P affirms Mongolia at BB- as the central bank tells MPs inflation hit 13% in July
S&P affirmed Mongolia’s BB- rating with a stable outlook on 8 October, the government’s communications office reported on Friday, with net external debt seen falling from 184 per cent of current account receipts in 2020 to 58 per cent this year. A day earlier central bank governor Narantsogt told MPs inflation reached 13 per cent in July and policy stays tight until it returns to about 5.
Georgian prosecutors investigate a central bank board member over an alleged crypto stake
The Prosecutor General’s Office of Georgia opened an investigation on Friday into Nana Keinishvili, a member of the National Bank’s board since September 2023, under article 337 of the Criminal Code on illegal participation in entrepreneurial activity by a public official, acting on statements and audio recordings that the crypto operator Bitexchange sent to the bank. The board will consider her temporary recusal at its next sitting, the bank said.
Kazakhstan’s current account turns to a $2.4 billion surplus as the tenge slips to 448.94
Kazakhstan’s current account showed a surplus of $2.4 billion, or 1.6 per cent of GDP, in the first half of 2026 after a deficit of $13.1 billion for the whole of 2025, the Ministry of National Economy said on Friday from National Bank data, the first surplus in three years. For Friday the official dollar rate is 448.94 tenge, up from 447.14 on Thursday.
ADB grants Tajikistan $20.5 million to digitise pensions for 250,000 pensioners
The Asian Development Bank approved a $20.5 million grant on 2 October to modernise Tajikistan’s Agency of Social Insurance and Pension, $19.5 million of it from the Asian Development Fund and $1 million from the Japan-financed High-Level Technology Fund, by its release from Dushanbe. A new platform is to serve 320,000 contributors and 250,000 pensioners, and $12.32 million comes from ADB’s Middle East conflict package.
Britain sanctions a Kyrgyz Finance Ministry payment company and two Bishkek processors
The UK Sanctions List added Processing KG, whose sole shareholder is Kyrgyzstan’s Ministry of Finance, its director Ulan Bukabaev, TokenSpot and Tsunami Payments on Thursday under the Russia regime, 24.kg reported at 21:22 Bishkek time from the Foreign Office’s notice. All three face an asset freeze and a ban on payments through them, and London cites reasonable grounds to suspect business of economic significance to the Russian government.