Afraid to speak out, Kazakhs let numbers talk for them


Workers carry out maintenance at an oil well on oil fields operated by a subsidiary of the KazMunayGas Exploration Production JSC in Kyzylorda region, southern Kazakhstan, January 21, 2016. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov

ALMATY: In Kazakhstan, where people worry they may lose their jobs or be jailed for criticising the authorities, some have found a new way to express the economic pain they are feeling: a website whose name roughly translates as "Oh My God!" 

The site, entitled oibai.kz, shows nothing but updated rates for the ex-Soviet oil producer's tenge currency and the world oil price – both of which have been plummeting – against a gloomy black-and-white photo of government buildings. 

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