The anti-corruption campaign highly intensified following the end of Azerbaijan’s war with Armenia in late 2020, but has rapidly picked up speed this month.

The Central Asian country makes efforts to improve its investment climate after more than two decades of economic isolation that kept foreign private businesses at a distance. President Shavkat Mirziyoyev made the attraction of foreign investors one of the top priorities of his ambitious reform agenda.

Azerbaijan’s state energy firm SOCAR said it had completed its engagement in the management of Antipinsky oil refinery in Russia, the company said in a joint statement with Russia’s Sberbank.

Kazakhstan's National Bank said it had kept the key policy rate unchanged at 9 percent, marking the fifth consecutive hold, after having cut it by 50 basis points in July 2020.