The slowdown in second quarter GDP growth confirmed our projection that the second half of 2010 will not be as robust as the first half. In the second quarter annualised growth decelerated ...

South Africa databank...

With all eyes on next Sunday’s referendum, August was a relatively quiet month on the economics front, but we thought a quick rundown on major developments could be useful. Fiscal ...

The record heat wave that hit Russia from early July to mid-August caused havoc for the agriculture and consumer markets. Temperatures hovered between 30°
C to 40°C
in Russia’s major ...

For the first time ever, serious questions have arisen as to the integrity of GDP growth figures published by the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV). There are suggestions floating that ...

The results of one of the two most recent government auctions of bandwidth, known officially as Auction Number 21, has been validated by the regulatory authorities overseeing the industry....

Since our last writing on the September 12th referendum outcomes, which made the ratification call, the pro-ratification momentum appears to have stalled. In fact, two polls claim ...

Bad policy is pushing the country into recession, and we see no rescue in sight. Falling inflation rates are coming down only because of the recession—not because of successful anti-inflation...

The current account deficits in Brazil have been rising and will continue doing so. This is a consequence of macroeconomic policies that increase total domestic absorption above GDP ...

Two concurrent polls show opposite trends in President Ricardo Martinelli’s popularity ratings: one says his approval rating rose 10.7 points in July; the other that it dropped by ...

Leading indicators are all up and with the new mining production data showing good number we will soon have that trend up as well. Consumer confidence numbers reflecting the enthusiastic ...

The 2011 budget proposal of the government arrives this week in the National Congress. The three main presidential candidates give separate interviews to the news program of TV Globo....

One of the main risks afflicting the Argentine economy is the rapid growth of fiscal spending, which, together with a lax monetary policy and virtually no access to voluntary financing—either...

In July, current account balance resulted with negative numbers. Depressed export and seasonal import growth caused CA deficit last month. Falling metallurgy and agriculture sales ...

The Philippine economy still performed at high gear in 2Q2010 as export recovery, national elections and reconstruction spending combined to pull up national output. At 7.9%, the country’s ...

The most recent Datafolha poll, conducted between the 23rd and 24th of August, and published in today's edition of the newspaper Folha de São Paulo shows that Dilma’s lead has risen ...

Many main indicators continue to show weakening signs: fixed asset investment slowed to 21.5% in July from 22.2% in June; industrial output fell to 17% from 17.6%; and consumer spending ...

Industry Mitigates Growth. In July, industry continued declining growth trend. Last month the industrial output resulted only with 6.4% YoY after 8.9% YoY a month ago. Money Supply ...

On a quarter-on-quarter (q/q) seasonally adjusted basis, real gross domestic product (GDP) growth during the second quarter of 2010 (Q2 2010) moderated to an annualised rate of 3.2%....

Relatively quiet week, where the election continues as the central theme. Two new voting intentions for president and government's evaluation polls will be released this week. On Tuesday,

For years the analysts at Mexico City based think tank GEA have insisted that the wage mass (the number of workers multiplied by their real term remunerations) is a fundamental factor ...

President Felipe Calderon convened one last session of the Dialogues for Security, this time with the heads of each party’s congressional caucuses. But he was snubbed by some of the ...

As expected, the Monetary Policy Committee left the policy rate (one-week repo rate) unchanged today at 7%, simple. The language was very similar to that in the previous statement,

H1 economic activity in GUATEMALA has shifted into recovery mode, rebounding from its severe slowdown in 2009, driven by merchandise exports and official capital inflows. As a result,

Behind President Rafael Correa’s ostensibly ideologically-neutral five-hour speech to the nation Aug. 10th was a core message of personal authority. The president went into detail ...

A possible rejection of the recently legislated constitutional amendment package on the September 12th referendum poses the most immediate risk to Turkish political stability, followed ...

With the beginning on the electoral advertising, campaign begins a new stage. House has the last week of concentrated effort before the elections, and Ibope releases new poll for the ...

The mounting evidence of a stalling of the U.S. economic recovery has begun to prompt some analysts of the Mexican economy to consider scaling back their growth forecasts for the second ...

The unprecedented public forums that President Felipe Calderon held with leaders of all segments of civil society over the past two weeks raised hopes that new strategies and a broader ...

Economic expectations continue to be on the rise. Growth expectations for the whole of 2010 have converged to 5 percent including a second quarter growth rate of over 6 percent. This ...

On August 10th, President Chávez met with President Santos in Santa Marta, a coastal city in northern Colombia. The estate in which they met has symbolic significance, since it was ...

Crisis, What Crisis? The clash between the generals and the AKP government during the August 1-4 High Military Tribunal (HMT) meeting has unsettled the markets, raised fears of a ...

Inflation will rise in the coming months because the economy is still hot, the chances have receded that the global economy will negatively affect the Brazilian economy and the probability ...

Q2-2010 was more positive than the beginning of the year. The pace of growth of the Russian economy picked up to 5.4% y-o-y (compared to 2.9% in Q1-2010). Consumer demand and business ...