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Yerevan declares ENA an overriding public interest and sets up a railway group with Russia
Armenia’s government recognised 100% of the shares of Electric Networks of Armenia, or ENA, owned by the Tashir group, as an overriding public interest at its sitting on 15 October, the status Armenian law requires before the state can take property, News.am reported. Tashir’s owner Samvel Karapetyan leads the opposition Strong Armenia alliance. Nikol Pashinyan the same day set up a working group with Russia on the railway concession.
The tenge falls to 454.14 as analysts polled by the National Bank cut inflation forecasts
The National Bank set the official rate at 454.14 tenge to the dollar for 16 October, up 3.52 from Thursday’s 450.62 and the third rise in a row. Its October survey of 14 forecasting organisations lowered the median inflation expectation for 2026 from 10% to 9.5% and raised the Brent assumption for the year to $88.4 a barrel.
Kazakhstan’s 2027 budget passes first reading with 19.9 trillion tenge of own revenue
Kazakhstan’s parliament approved the draft republican budget for 2027 to 2029 in first reading on 14 October by 128 votes with 8 abstentions, Kapital reported. The draft puts 2027 own revenues at 19.9 trillion tenge and spending at 30.2 trillion, with 5.5 trillion more in transfers, and the co-rapporteur said the VAT rise to 16% has yet to bring the revenue expected.
Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan switch on a 380 km Caspian cable and sign a Middle Corridor pact
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Ilham Aliyev opened the Trans-Caspian fibre-optic line between Sumgayit and Aktau online on 15 October, a 380 km cable on the seabed with a capacity above 400 terabits a second, Report said. In their presence the two governments exchanged a signed agreement on the Middle Corridor and restated a $1 billion trade target, Akorda said.
Mongolia amends its Minerals Law and votes a 2 trillion tugrik deficit in the same sitting
The State Great Khural finally approved on 16 October Minerals Law amendments that, by the ministry’s summary, double the local share of royalties, bring the copper royalty into line with international benchmarks and strengthen the legal basis for a critical minerals policy. The sitting also adopted the 2026 budget revision, with spending of 33.9 trillion tugrik and a 2 trillion deficit, four days before the ruling party’s deadline.
The tenge’s official rate steps back to 450.62 for 15 October after two days of gains
The National Bank of Kazakhstan set the official rate at 450.62 tenge to the dollar for 15 October, 2.17 weaker than Wednesday’s 448.45, by its daily series. The two preceding days had taken the rate down from the 453.93 that held over the weekend and Monday.
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.
Four in five British seasonal farm visas go to Central Asians who buy the visa themselves
Britain granted 41,766 Seasonal Worker visas in the year to June 2026 and 79% went to Central Asians, with Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan the countries the Home Office names. Its survey with Defra of 16,787 workers shows who paid: 90.1% said they bought their own visa, 63% spent £500 to £999 before arrival, and 26.8% of Uzbek respondents reported paying labour or migration ministry fees.
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.
Uzbekistan drafts a 30% heating rise from 1 November and a million soums for the poorest
Uzbekistan has published two drafts for public comment, a cabinet resolution on tariffs and a presidential decree on social support, that set the terms of its move to market energy prices. Heating and hot water rise about 30% from 1 November, with Tashkent’s heating tariff at 314 soums per square metre a day. Families in the social registry get a one-off 1 million soums in November.
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.
Mirziyoyev moves the ministries to New Tashkent, where entrepreneurs have 94 hectares
Shavkat Mirziyoyev told the prime minister on Monday to start moving the remaining ministries and state bodies to New Tashkent, three years into a project that has absorbed more than $2 billion from all sources, with the state paying for most of the 1,000 hectares under construction. Entrepreneurs have been allotted 94 hectares, the president said, and private business is being drawn in more slowly than the opportunities allow.
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.