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Over 2bn dollars in Kazakh National Fund, premier
says
Text of report by Kazakh TV on 24 February
[Presenter] Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev met Prime
Minister Imangali Tasmagambetov today. The head of the government
informed the president of the state of the country's social
and economic development.
The prime minister said that to date the funds of the National
Fund of Kazakhstan had exceeded 2bn dollars. In keeping with
the government's forecasts, industry is expected to grow by
8.3 per cent and inflation by 0.4 per cent at the end of February.
[The National Fund accumulates above-the-target funds from
oil and other export-oriented sectors of the economy.]
The implementation of the programme for reviving rural areas
and the fight against unemployment in the regions were also
discussed in detail at the meeting.
Source: Kazakh Television first channel, Astana, in Russian
1430 gmt 24 Feb 03
Azerbaijan, IMF Move To Resolve Dispute Over
State Oil Fund (RFE/RL Feb 10)
Azerbaijan and the IMF have reached an interim agreement
on expenditures from the State Oil Fund, according to the
"RFE/RL Azerbaijan Report" on 4 February. Under
that agreement, changes will be made to the law on the state
budget so that expenditures to be financed from the State
Oil Fund will be included as a separate item in the annual
budget. The agreement also stipulates that parliament will
approve proposals on how monies from the fund should be spent.
But Azer Mehdiev, president of the Association for Economic
Development, pointed out that that apparent concession on
the part of the Azerbaijani leadership lacks seriousness insofar
as the parliament merely rubber stamps the draft budget prepared
by the presidential administration.
Making the Oil Fund's transactions fully transparent was one
of the conditions the IMF set last year for disbursal of a
new $100 million loan tranche for Azerbaijan. The second was
the abolition of a proposed differentiated tax scale intended
to encourage investment in the most impoverished raions of
the country. Relations between the IMF and the Azerbaijani
government have been strained for several years (see "RFE/RL
Caucasus Report," 17 May 2002). The IMF is reportedly
also concerned that Baku wants to use some part of the $700
million accumulated in the Oil Fund to finance its share of
the construction costs for the planned Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan
oil export pipeline.
Ernst & Young to audit Kazakh national oil
fund in 2002
Ernst & Young has won the tender for an independent auditor
to carry out external auditing of the Kazakh National Fund's
activities in 2002, the Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency reported
on 11 February.
"The decision to choose Ernst & Young as auditor
of the National Fund in 2002 has been passed at a sitting
of the corresponding tender commission which was set up in
line with a government resolution in mid-November 2002,"
the news agency quoted a Kazakh Finance Ministry press release
as saying.
The news agency noted that this company had also won the
tender to audit the National Fund's activities in 2001.
The National Fund, which accumulates above-the-target funds
from oil and other export-oriented sectors of the economy
and is currently being managed by the Kazakh National Bank,
started its operations in early 2001. It had accumulated 1,932.7m
dollars as of early February 2003, the news agency added.
Source: Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency, Almaty, in Russian
0634 gmt 11 Feb 03
BBC Mon CAU 110203 /jl/nb
Azeri leader decrees expansion in scope of
oil fund's revenues
Text of report by Azerbaijani news agency Turan
Baku, 10 February: Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev has
signed a decree on introducing changes to a number of legal
acts regulating the activity of the State Oil Fund of the
Azerbaijani Republic (SOFAR).
Changes have been introduced to the presidential decree on
setting up SOFAR, dated 29 December 1999, the Regulations
of SOFAR and the Rules for preparing and fulfilling SOFAR's
yearly revenue and expenditure programmes.
Changes to all the three documents concern the sources of
the Oil Fund's revenues. In particular, the list of sources
has been expanded to include:
- revenues obtained from the sale of Azerbaijan's share
of crude oil and natural gas (after the deduction of expenses
on transportation, banking and customs procedures, marketing
and insurance payments, as well as the profit made by SOCAR
[State Oil Company of the Azerbaijani Republic]);
- bonus payments;
- per-acre payments;
- Azerbaijan's share of the profit and dividends made as
a result of the implementation of oil and gas projects (except
for the profit made by SOCAR);
- revenues from the transportation of oil and gas through
the territory of Azerbaijan via the Baku-Supsa, Baku -Tbilisi-Ceyhan
and Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum pipelines;
- revenues obtained from the assets provided by foreign
investors to SOCAR or any other authorized representative
of the Azerbaijani government in oil and gas contracts;
- revenues obtained from the placement and management of
SOFAR's resources;
- grants and other donations;
- other revenues envisaged by legislation.
A provision saying that the fund's expenditure must not exceed
its revenues has also been introduced to the Regulations of
SOFAR.
As of 1 January 2003, a total of 692m dollars had accumulated
in the SOFAR accounts.
Source: Turan news agency, Baku, in Russian 1202 gmt 10 Feb
03
BBC Mon TCU 100203 at/eb
Azeri leader signs decree on amendments to Oil Fund law
Text of report by Azerbaijani TV station ANS on 7 February
President Heydar Aliyev today signed a decree on amendments
to a number of laws which regulate the activities of the State
Oil Fund of the Azerbaijani Republic [SOFAR].
The decree significantly expands the sources of the Oil Fund's
revenues. For instance, among the sources of the fund's additional
revenues, the decree mentions profits from the sale of oil
produced by SOCAR [State Oil Company of the Azerbaijani Republic],
from contracts with foreign companies, Azerbaijan's dividends
from oil and gas projects and production sharing agreements.
It must be noted that amendments to the laws which regulate
SOFAR's activities are one of the major requirements of the
International Monetary Fund. As the talks with the IMF on
the Oil Fund yielded no results during the first stage, the
IMF suspended a credit tranche earmarked for Azerbaijan.
Source: ANS TV, Baku, in Russian 1500 gmt 7 Feb 03
BBC Mon TCU 070203 ek/sa
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