Ben Aris in Berlin
Thu, 30th Jul -- Frontier markets in the region will be amongst the few to actually grow this year.

Clare Nuttall in Almaty
Thu, 16th Jul -- From its Central Asian origins, Eurasia Capital is reaching out across the former Soviet Union and beyond with the launch of an office in Beijing and a beefed-up presence in Moscow, as it aims to become the first pan-regional investment bank. It is also exploring new frontiers closer to home, with an office in Turkmenistan planned.

Ben Aris in Minsk
Wed, 22nd Jul -- Belarus is the pariah in Europe, but unnoticed by the rest of the continent the little republic of 10m has pushed through a raft of reforms and is now poised to boom when things return to normal.

Alisher Ali Djumanov of Eurasia Capital
Tue, 28th Jul -- Mongolia has been hit by the global economic downturn and shrinking copper export revenues. But if the Oyu Tolgoi gold/copper project goes ahead, it is estimated that at today's prices it could generate $2.3bn revenue each year, almost half of Mongolia's GDP last year.

Clare Nuttall in Almaty
Wed, 22nd Jul -- On one of Uzbekistan's busiest boulevards, televisions, DVD players, freezers and other home electronics and white goods - almost all South Korean brands - spill out from the row of shops onto the pavement, creating a bazaar-like buzz in downtown Tashkent.

bne
Wed, 22nd Jul -- Q: The devaluation of the dram in March was a shock. Is the situation stable now?

Ben Aris in Yerevan
Wed, 22nd Jul -- It's the Central Bank of Armenia's prudence that is largely responsible for the lack of problems the banking sector enjoys today, Arthur Jaradyan, governor of the CBA, tells bne in an exclusive interview.

Ben Aris in Tbilisi
Wed, 22nd Jul -- The war with Russia meant that Georgia was already in crisis mode almost six months before the global meltdown struck. More importantly, the government had already received pledges of some $4.5bn in war damage aid, which turned out to be a very timely stimulus package.

Seyitbek Usmanov and Robert Genkin of MGN Capital
Wed, 22nd Jul -- The microfinance industry in the Kyrgyz Republic has undergone tremendous changes over the last decade. Many companies have joined the industry, both local and foreign. In 1995, there was one microfinance organization, FINCA; in 1997, Kyrgyz Village Finance Corporation opened - which was later reorganized into Ayil (Village) Bank; and today, the market is liberally littered with 233 microfinance organisations. Gradually, the market has moved from monopoly to oligopoly to free-market competition.

bne
Wed, 22nd Jul -- The satisfaction level with the governing institutions of Kosovo has fallen, the United Nations Development Programme said in a recent report. The results from the organisation's April poll show that approximately 38% of respondents were satisfied with the work of the Government of Kosovo, a decrease of 19 percentage points from the last poll in October.