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WEBINAR - LATIN AMERICA: FISCAL PRESSURES AND POLITICAL SHIFTS...

Ecuadorians overwhelmed by political scandals
ECUADOR · In Brief · 09 Mar 2018

A new political scandal emerged last week when a mafia-type phone conversation between the President of the Assembly, Jose Serrano and the former Comptroller General Carlos Polit, now a fugitive from justice in Miami, was made public by the Attorney General, Carlos Vaca. In this conversation, Ser...

China’s work report: Why isn’t China growing faster?
CHINA ADVISORY · Report · 09 Mar 2018

Last week, China outlined its goals for 2018 in its annual work report issued by Premier Li Keqiang. It’s very ambitious – and there’s a lot that is quite misleading…. The real issue is the promise that fiscal policy “will continue to be proactive.” What does this mean in light of all the talk...

March 11
COLOMBIA · Report · 09 Mar 2018

Some dates mark an epochal change in a process. That is the case of next Sunday, March 11, for the current presidential race. Many things we know about the political landscape until now will be seen under a different light thereafter. The key issues are: i) how many congressmen are elected for ea...

Chile’s New Constitution, but for how long?
CHILE · Report · 08 Mar 2018

​On Tuesday President Michelle Bachelet held a signing ceremony at the Presidential Palace at which she introduced a bill of law aimed at putting in motion a new constitution for Chile. The announcement, made on live TV the previous evening, left many observers surprised – not because Bachelet ha...

Another excellent CPI-number, but also look behind the curtain
HUNGARY · In Brief · 08 Mar 2018

The year-on-year rate of CPI-inflation fell to 1.9% in February, from 2.1% in the previous month. This was marginally below the 2% market consensus and brought the average headline rate for the first two months to slightly below the 2.1% level, which the MNB expected for the average of CPI-inflat...

Inflation doesn’t budge, despite calm in the parallel market
VENEZUELA · Report · 07 Mar 2018 · 1 response

Price volatility is on the rise. In our view this reflects hyperinflationary dynamics, the irregularity of supplies, seasonality in some agricultural goods, and the influence of the cash crisis on prices. The fees associated with the use of cash in payments have risen as the cash shortage intensi...

MPC: 'Stop, or I'll Say Stop Again'
TURKEY · In Brief · 07 Mar 2018

In line with the consensus, the CBRT’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) did not change any of the short-term interest rates at today’s meeting, keeping the Late Liquidity Window lending rate at 12.75%, one-week repo rate at 8.0%, and the O/N lending and borrowing rates at 9.25% and 7.25%, respecti...

CNT/MDA: Evaluations of the government improve slightly
BRAZIL POLITICS · Report · 06 Mar 2018

A poll released today by CNT/MDA shows that there was a slight improvement in the evaluations of the Michel Temer administration, although the positive and negative oscillations were within the 2.2 point margin of error. This result can be attributed to the economic recovery and the population’s ...

South African GDP growth, similar to politics, ends 2017 on a positive note
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 06 Mar 2018

On a quarter-on-quarter, seasonally adjusted and annualized basis, GDP in the last quarter of 2017 increased by 3.1%. This was the third consecutive positive quarterly growth rate following the upwardly adjusted second quarter 2.9% (previously 2.8%) and third quarter 2.3% (previously 2.0%). Even ...

Inflation climbs; a new price series
PHILIPPINES · Report · 06 Mar 2018

Today the government released estimates of the February inflation rate showing prices climbing by 4.5%, up from 4% in January. The price increase, which reflects adjustments for higher consumption taxes, particularly oil excises, is slightly above analysts’ median 4.2% forecast for the month (we ...

GDP growth figures for Q4 2017 the highest in thirteen years
HUNGARY · In Brief · 06 Mar 2018

There was essentially no surprise coming out of the detailed GDP numbers for Q4 2017, reported this morning. Yet the details were interesting.First, the 1.3% qoq, 4.9% yoy growth rates for Q4 (the yoy number revised marginally upwards from the first estimate) was quite outstanding for Hungary by ...

The IMF is worried about the debt path and insists on fiscal adjustment
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC · Report · 05 Mar 2018

In January, the inflation rate reached 0.29% while accumulated inflation declined moderately, reaching 3.86%, slightly below the inflation target (4%) set in the Monetary Program. After months of loose monetary policy, the Central Bank´s position has become a little more restrictive. There is ...

Plenty of blame to go around
PERU · Report · 05 Mar 2018

Ex-Odebrecht chief Jorge Barata has testified before Peruvian prosecutors, under a plea bargaining agreement that is to exonerate him of all criminal charges in Peru. Last year Barata confirmed bribing several public officials in exchange for facilitating awards of government contracts. Now he’s ...

Presidential pre-candidacies and other weekly topics
BRAZIL POLITICS · Report · 05 Mar 2018

Three presidential pre-candidacies will be launched in the coming days: Rodrigo Maia (DEM), Guilherme Boulos (PSOL) and Geraldo Alckmin (PSDB). On Tuesday, March 6, the STJ decides on the habeas corpus request filed by former President Lula. The CNT/MDA poll on intended votes and the government e...

Synthesis of the Brazilian economy
BRAZIL ECONOMICS · Report · 05 Mar 2018

The federal intervention in public security in Rio de Janeiro through the Army has brought a wave of uncertainties. Besides virtually burying the chances for approval of the pension reform proposal this year, leaving to the next government the most important of all the reforms (by creating condit...