The Ministry of Finance enjoyed some good news at yearend: the 2011 fiscal deficit is expected to come in at 3.2% of GDP, rather than the 4% forecast earlier. This did not come entirely ...

The global economic uncertainties continue to be high, increasing the margin for error in the projections. There still might be a rupture in Europe, which would worsen the international ...

There was no surprise in today’s MPC statement. Here are the highlights: * The Bank is happy with the ongoing demand rebalancing, which it expects to continue in the forthcoming ...

This will be a year of challenges for the region. Costa Rica, El Salvador and Guatemala will be forced to cope with their internal weakness and disequilibrium, in a world characterized ...

The upcoming February 12 primaries will be a milestone in Venezuelan politics. If participation is strong, the unity opposition presidential nominee wins by a reasonable margin, and ...

Russia's CPI stood at 6.1% in 2011, its lowest level in the past 20 years. A number of simultaneous factors from 2010, when food prices spiked after a summer drought, were behind ...

Ukraine has still obtained no gas discount from Russia, a situation that leaves many other issues unresolved. It looks as though Moscow is not inclined to offer gas advances, and is ...

The Bank noted that cost push factors largely remained the cause of inflationary pressures given the absence of signs pointing to major demand pressures in the economy. In particular,

There are indications that the worst of the recent economic slowdown has passed. The government’s problem rests not in lack of growth, which though still weak, will reach annualized ...

We open the year with an interview of the Philippines’ de facto chief economist, Cayetano W. Paderanga, Jr., head of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA). The NEDA ...

Humala’s shift towards moderation has continued, with only two important officials left in the government belonging to the radical coalition that supported him in the first round of ...

The Ecuadorian economy grew 9% y/y and at 1.7% q/q in Q3 2011, according to the latest information from the Central Bank. Cumulative growth for the three first quarters of 2011 was ...

At last the global turmoil caused by the Euro financial crisis is beginning to spill over into Chile. The recent slowdown in economic activity is reflecting a smooth but significant ...

Here we report the results of estimating the Central Bank’s reaction curve in two periods: from 2003 to 2007 and from 2008 to 2011, showing that: a) between 2003 and 2007 the risk ...

Domestic demand gained traction while domestic output stalled in the third quarter of 2011. Real gross domestic expenditure (GDE) rebounded in Q3 2011 due to a strong pick-up in private ...

United Russia won the national parliamentary election with 49,32% of the votes that gave it 238 of the 450 seats in lower house. That result was significantly lower than 64,30% of ...

Consumer prices rose by a somewhat higher than expected 0.6% in December, ending the year at double-digits, or the 12-month rate of 10.5%, up from 9.5% a month earlier. The so-called ...

Data about the flow of new investment projects which are initiated in each quarter is now visible for the Oct-Nov-Dec 2011 quarter. With both private and public investment, the values ...

The economy grew 4.8 percent in the third quarter of the current year, accumulating an annual increase of 7.0 percent in the first three quarters of 2011. Domestic demand expanded ...

Food prices have eased. Given the large weight of food in the CPI, this has yielded two months of reduced CPI inflation. At the same time, the recent rupee depreciation has yielded ...

After dodging global crisis in 2009, and turning in real GDP growth of 7.6% in 2010, Panama’s economy is on track to expand 10% this year – the best performance in the region, according ...

The deepening sovereign debt crisis in the EZ combined with Turkey’s own idiosyncratic risks, make the 2012 outlook hugely uncertain. With enormous pressures piled up already, 2012 ...

The world economy is heading towards a slowdown and, eventually, a recession. In 2012, the cloudy external scenario will find Argentina in the midst of an adjustment process induced ...

Ecuador has enjoyed very positive economic performance this year. The official estimate of 6.5% growth for 2011 could well be achieved, even considering weak growth in H2, given growth ...

The high-level Central Economic Work Conference has set forth the basic line for next year’s macroeconomic policy: “Moving forward by maintaining stability.” The group’s communiqué ...