Trade has plummeted, Chinese goods are disappearing from markets, and exports of China’s favorite Central Asian commodity – natural gas – have nosedived.
The Georgian lari has become one of the fastest depreciating currencies in Europe, despite the fact that coronavirus has hit the country relatively weakly.
As the government pretends everything is normal, families are in a state of deepening anxiety over a perfect storm that could plunge the country into an unusually severe crisis.
Central Asia claims zero cases of coronavirus, but the economic symptoms are everywhere. This and more in our monthly briefing on Chinese business in the region.
The country is banking on new hydropower projects to solve energy problems. But the communities most affected don’t trust government assurances that the dams will be safe.
In our monthly Russian business briefing: Uzbekistan dithers, Azerbaijan offers a backdoor to Europe, and the rocket that fell on Kazakhstan will not frustrate a new $1 billion test range.