SOUTH AFRICA - Report 16 Jul 2019

​In the State of Capture 2016 report by the ex-Public Protector, Thuli Madonzela, the former President, Jacob Zuma, was found to have been the key role player in state capture. The report was “an investigation into complaints of alleged improper and unethical conduct by the president and other st...

RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS - In Brief 16 Jul 2019

Igor Sechin (CEO of Rosneft) wrote to President Putin requesting an enormous tax break to enable his company to develop oil production in the Arctic Circle. Rosneft estimates it will spend anywhere between USD 80 billion and 135 billion. The tax exemption requested is worth about USD 41 billion. ...

BRAZIL POLITICS - Report 15 Jul 2019

Congress enters its midyear recess on Thursday, July 18. The government may present details of the Tax Reform proposal it will sent to Congress. The economic team may announce economic stimulus measures. President Bolsonaro takes part in the Mercosur Summit in Argentina. Brazil takes over preside...

MEXICO - Report 15 Jul 2019

Almost all major economic growth drivers have stalled or are in retreat, particularly investment, and to a lesser extent both public and private consumption, while economic expectations continue to slip lower. So far the government’s efforts to reassure all stakeholders have proven, at best, poor...

MEXICO - Report 15 Jul 2019 1 response

Carlos Urzúa’s abrupt resignation last week as minister of finance cast a new light on the sorts of rivalries plaguing the administration of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, as well as the pitfalls of trying to manage such an ideologically diverse array of appointees. There is nothing p...

INDIA - Report 15 Jul 2019

Using the data now available, we are able to calculate the leading indicator for Apr-Jun 2019, but not the coincident indicator for this same quarter. We see a turning point in business cycle conditions in Q1 2018. The leading indicator gives us a sense of what will happen to the coincident i...

BRAZIL ECONOMICS - Report 15 Jul 2019

Ambitious objectives are rarely entirely achieved, but in the case of the pension reform, the most recent legislative developments indicate that the country is poised to take an important step ahead. Many actions in the fiscal field will still be necessary to reverse the rising path of the debt/G...

ISRAEL - Report 15 Jul 2019

Highlights: Policy rates remained on hold last week. * The BoI Governor's press conference and the macro forecast reflected a clear tightening bias. Governor Yaron sees the likelihood of a rate hike in "one of the upcoming decisions". He also said that Israel could tighten while other b...

TURKEY - Report 14 Jul 2019

The S-400 crisis entered the next phase, with Ankara beginning to take delivery of some parts, as the Bloomberg claimed that the White House shall announce sanctions in the coming week. This is not the final scene. The politics author believes that Ankara still belabors until false hopes and mist...

RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS - In Brief 13 Jul 2019

Turkey has received the first parts of the Russian S-400 missile defense system. The US lobbied very hard against Turkey purchasing this system. The Turks also want to buy American F-35 fighter planes. The US is deeply worried that Turkey might allow the Russians to examine F-35 planes to assess ...

ECUADOR - Report 12 Jul 2019

GDP grew 0.6% y/y in Q1 2019, but the economic contraction is evident because q/q it fell 1% in this period. In fact, only exports contributed positively to GDP growth as they rose 3.9% q/q and 3.5% y/y. Private and government consumption, and investment showed negative q/q changes of 1.4%, 4.6% ...

ARGENTINA - Report 12 Jul 2019 1 response

The electoral campaign for the August 9 open primaries officially started on July 12. As they are mandatory and simultaneous, all candidates have to participate. However, as happened in previous elections, most political parties have already decided who will be their only candidate for the lea...

PANAMA - In Brief 12 Jul 2019

The new economic team announced yesterday that they will test the capital markets with a US$ 2.7 billion placement. The main objective of the transaction is to finance the expected deficit by December and the payment of a big chunk of the arrears to contractors left by the previous government. Th...

GULF COUNTRIES - Report 12 Jul 2019

The US is Qatar’s most important partner, commercially and politically. Qatar is also surprisingly important to the US, as evidenced by the Emir’s recent high profile reception. Strong US support bolsters Qatar, which is being boycotted by several neighbors. Trump is now very clearly on side, aft...

GULF COUNTRIES - In Brief 12 Jul 2019

The UAE is rapidly withdrawing troops from Yemen, having been the largest foreign presence in the south.Its involvement in the war had drawn wide criticism and tarnished its international reputation.Its exit reduces the risk of blowback attacks (drones and missiles) and escalation with Iran, whic...

GULF COUNTRIES - Report 12 Jul 2019

Kuwait’s upgrade to MSCI emerging market status was enabled by reforms to professionalize the market and attract foreign investors. The impact of these changes, which drove earlier upgrades from FTSE Russell and S&P Dow Jones, has been positive in terms of inflows and performance, which should co...

RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS - In Brief 11 Jul 2019

President Zelensky's party 'Servant of the People' is set to win easily in elections to the Ukrainian Rada (Parliament). An analysis of the various opinion polls shows that Servant of the People is due to score 47% of the vote. In second place Opposition Platform - For Life us due to win about 11...

CHINA ADVISORY - Report 11 Jul 2019

Hong Kong is an important center for China’s financial expansion, globalization of the RMB, and trade relations. It is also a center for illegal capital flows and management of the strength of the currency through state proxies. Here we look at Hong Kong’s banking to understand its global lending...

BRAZIL POLITICS - Report 10 Jul 2019

The Lower House approved the main text for Pension Reform with 379 votes in favor and 131 against. The landslide vote represents another important victory for the government. It is also a win for Rodrigo Maia (DEM-RJ), who was responsible for securing support. Maia also voted in favor of the prop...

RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS - In Brief 10 Jul 2019

Two years ago Sberbank and Yandex formed a partnership to promote e-commerce. They created an online market called Beru. Their platform for buying imported goods is called Bringly. Sberbank now considers this a failure but the decision to terminate the partnership is not yet final. In August 2017...