NEWS FLASH

UPCOMING WEBINAR - CENTRAL AMERICA OUTLOOK: COSTA RICA, EL SALVADOR, GU...

Manila's airports to transition from bad to good
PHILIPPINES · In Brief · 27 Mar 2024

After years of being touted as one of the worst airports in the world, there might be hope for the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA). Its ill reputation is not surprising: from 2010-2023, the Manila International Airport Authority (MIIA) put in only P27.1 billion as capital expenditure, w...

The South African Reserve Bank keeps rates unchanged amid ongoing sticky inflation
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 27 Mar 2024

The South African Reserve Bank’s (SARB) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) announced today that it is once again leaving the benchmark interest rate unchanged, a decision that was largely expected. This comes after the Bank’s MPC held the repurchase (repo) rate unchanged for four consecutive meeting...

SA Election Monitor 1: National elections fever is rising—and sharply so
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 27 Mar 2024

South Africa's 2024 elections are expected to be the first of its truly democratic process. This is because since 1994, and the dawn of the new constitutional democratic order, the dominance of the African National Congress (ANC) meant that the outcomes of the national elections were highly predi...

Risk or Base Case Scenario?
BRAZIL ECONOMICS · Report · 27 Mar 2024

The Minutes of the COPOM meeting disclosed on Tuesday morning reflect the decision to alter the forward guidance, maintaining a “conditional commitment” to cut the SELIC rate by 50 basis points only at the meeting scheduled for May, thus leaving doubt regarding the reductions at subsequent meetin...

The House approved the Bankruptcy Law bill yesterday, Pacheco will ask the government to submit its bill on state debt in 10 days, and ministers meet with French President Macron
BRAZIL POLITICS · Report · 27 Mar 2024

Yesterday, the House approved a bill that changes the Bankruptcy and Recoveries Law, speeding up the processes by increasing the power of creditors. The text now goes to the Senate for further analysis. Also yesterday, the president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), said that the states' f...

China’s charm offensive
CHINA ADVISORY · Report · 27 Mar 2024

China has been engaging in a full-court “charm offensive” toward Europe and the United States, encouraging diplomatic, military and economic discussions. Some analysts dismiss these efforts as a fig leaf to cover China’s true ambitions. However, there is an economic logic to them: the domestic ec...

The outlook for 2024 is subdued
INDIA · Report · 27 Mar 2024

The economy slowed from the middle of 2022 onward. In this report, we examine three important drivers of demand: exports, investment and credit. Export growth in 2024 is likely to be weak, investment during 2024 is likely to be subdued, and credit growth in 2024 may slow somewhat. Hence, we expec...

Economic activity grew 6.2% y-y in Feb 2024
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC · In Brief · 26 Mar 2024

The Central Bank of the Dominican Republic announced that in Feb 2024 economic activity expanded by 6.2% y-y. Given the growth in Jan 2024 of 4.6% y-y, the accumulated year-on-year growth in Jan-Feb 2024 is 5.4%. The economic activities with the highest year-on-year growth in Feb 2024 were hotels...

The calm before the storm: the good news from 2023 and what lies ahead for the economy and fiscal situation in 2024
PANAMA · Report · 26 Mar 2024

In 2023, real GDP growth reached 7.3%, despite the November social crisis. Growth was driven by traditional sectors such as construction, commerce, transportation, and real estate. Monthly indicators suggested a slowdown in Q3, with a contraction in Q4. Construction activity, supported by public ...

Peru: Congress to approve a new pension fund withdrawal
PERU · In Brief · 26 Mar 2024 · 1 response

Last night, Congress' Economy Commission approved by 17 votes (only 3 against) a bill approving the seventh private pension fund withdrawal. Initially the draft conditioned the 4 Unidades Impositivas Tributarias (UITs, the inflation index units, amounting each to PEN5,150 or US$1392) withdrawals ...

Base rate cut in line with analyst expectations
HUNGARY · In Brief · 26 Mar 2024

The Monetary Council reduced the base rate by 75bps to 8.25% at today's meeting, just as expected by private sector analysts. This means that the 100bps rate cut of late February indeed proved to be a temporary (more accurately a one-time) deviation from the previous four months' standard monthly...

Haddad will meet with governors to discuss state debt, Pacheco should submit a bill to renegotiate state debt, and the House may vote on the Bankruptcy Law bill
BRAZIL POLITICS · Report · 26 Mar 2024

Today, the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, will meet with the governors of the South and Southeast to present a proposal to review the criteria for indexing the states' debt. Minister Haddad has already taken the matter to President Lula (PT). The governors will also meet with the president...

Politics: How voters are assessing the current administration’s performance in specific policy areas
MEXICO · Report · 25 Mar 2024

In the second half of our analysis of the GEA-ISA nationwide quarterly poll of registered voters conducted in early March, we turn attention away from matters of presidential approval and voter support for this year’s presidential candidates and political parties and focus on citizens' perception...

Economics: More signs of decelerating manufacturing as public finances and monetary policy raise concerns
MEXICO · Report · 25 Mar 2024

Economic data published this past month continued to bear out our projection of a slowdown in early 2024. As predicted, manufacturing contracted anew in January, largely in response to slackened demand from US industry. In Mexico, drivers of economic activity remain primarily domestic as the exte...

The Strength of Internal Demand and the Respective Risks
BRAZIL ECONOMICS · Forecast · 25 Mar 2024

We have revised our growth projection for the year upward to 1.8%. Given the low carry-over from last year, this annual figure requires quarter-on-quarter marginal growth greater than the sustainable pace of output expansion, implying an additional decline of unemployment, and thus persistence of...