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UPCOMING WEBINAR - CAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA: ECONOMIC UPSWINGS AND POL...

Economy minister Nagy stole the day in the local media yesterday
HUNGARY · In Brief · 02 Sep 2022

Mr. Nagy, lately the government cabinet member to announce bad news, formerly vice governor of the MNB, spoke on the role and the likely future of administrative price controls on the radio the day before yesterday. Essentially, he said that administrative price caps (on fuels and basic food item...

Chairman of Russian oil company dies from falling out of the window
RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS · In Brief · 02 Sep 2022

On September 1 the Chairman of LUKoil fell from the window of a Moscow hospital. It is not known what Ravil Maganov was in the elite hospital for.Earlier in 2022 another top LUKoil executive died in suspicious circumstances. He was Alexander Subbotin.LUKoil said in March 2022 that the Ukraine War...

Armenia seems to be helping Russia evade sanctions
RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS · In Brief · 01 Sep 2022

Russia has tried to get around sanctions through parallel imports. Armenia has recorded a 50% YoY increase in trade with Russia in Q1 and Q2 2022. Russia has always been by far its biggest trade partner. In that same time Armenian manufacturing has grown only 2.7%. It is suspected by Western dipl...

Bi-Weekly Economic News Summary
KAZAKHSTAN · In Brief · 01 Sep 2022

Aug 22 CPC: The company has suspended the operation of two of the three remote berthing devices at the marine terminal due to damage Aug 23 Agriculture Ministry: Kazakhstan expects grain harvest in 2022 at the level of 18.3 mln tons (vs 16.4 mln tons in FY 2021) Sberbank: The bank announced that ...

The 2023 Federal Budget was submitted to Congress yesterday, a special secretary for the Treasury and Budget of the Ministry of Economy called for a reformulation of the Federal Budget system, and a presidential poll will be published today
BRAZIL POLITICS · Report · 01 Sep 2022

The Budget bill provides for an average Auxílio Brasil payment of R$ 405 for 21.6 million families. The total amount reserved for this purpose is R$ 105.7 billion. Polls indicate that some voters are not convinced that President Jair Bolsonaro will keep the payments at R$ 600 next year. The R$ 60...

Russia’s deflation holds for another week and m-o-m deflation in August could be around 0.6%
RUSSIA ECONOMICS · In Brief · 01 Sep 2022

Rosstat reported that in seven days ending on August 29, consumer prices fell by 0.16% w-o-w. The MTD deflation reached 0.54%. It brought down the YTD inflation to 10.38%. In recent weeks deflation was caused primarily by seasonally falling fresh fruit and vegetable prices. Though some other food...

President Tokaev offers to boost liberal economic reforms and hold an early presidential election
KAZAKHSTAN · In Brief · 01 Sep 2022

President Tokaev (69) suggested holding an early presidential election this year, limiting the presidential term by seven years and not allowing re-election. Mr. Tokaev delivered these proposals in his address to the nation at a joint meeting of the lower and upper chambers of the parliament. As ...

Banks’ lending expands in July across the board pointing to a recovery in economic activity
RUSSIA ECONOMICS · In Brief · 31 Aug 2022

Ассоrding to statistics recently published by the CBR, banks provided more loans to the economy in July than in any previous month since March. From March, outstanding credit to other financial and non-financial organizations contracted, while in July, it resumed growth. Total credit grew by 2.7%...

Growth picks up sequentially in Q2
TURKEY · Report · 31 Aug 2022

The Turkish economy grew by 7.6%, y/y, and 2.1%, q/q. While annual growth is broadly in line with expectations, quarterly or sequential growth (calendar- and seasonally-adjusted) presents a somewhat different picture than envisaged, with growth momentum picking up noticeably over the previous qua...

Rare good news on the energy front
HUNGARY · In Brief · 31 Aug 2022

Foreign minister Szíjjártó announced today a new bilateral agreement with Russia on the shipment by the latter of up to 5.8 million cubic meter of natural gas daily throughout September and October, after the shipments of 2.6 million cms per day over the bigger part of August. Hungary used up 11....

The 2023 Federal Budget will be submitted to Congress today, two presidential polls will be published today, and Bolsonaro’s biggest obstacle in the presidential race is his high rate of rejection
BRAZIL POLITICS · Report · 31 Aug 2022

Proposals have been submitted to Congress that postpone the implementation of the culture laws, opening up at least R$ 3.8 billion of space in the Budget. The Ministry of Economy reported that the postponement of the investments in the cultural sector was approved in order to meet the 2022 spendi...

The Kazakh government expects the economy to grow around 4% in 2023
KAZAKHSTAN · In Brief · 31 Aug 2022

At a government meeting last Friday, the authorities presented their view on the country’s economic growth in 2023 and beyond and discussed various scenarios. The baseline scenario assumes that the oil price would stay at $85/bbl on average and the KZT/$ averages at 470 in 2023. GDP is expected t...

Former Soviet President Gorbachev dies
RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS · In Brief · 31 Aug 2022

On August Mikhail Gorbachev died aged 91. Gorbachev ruled the USSR 1985-91. He is widely disliked for allowing the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The economic reforms that he introduced led to chaos and mass unemployment in the 1990s.  Gorbachev represents everything that Putin despises. Gorbac...

Azerbaijan takes land from Armenia
RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS · In Brief · 30 Aug 2022

On August 26 the President of Azerbaijan said his army had taken Lachin which is a town connecting the Nagorno Karabakh Region to Armenia. The area had been under the control of 2 000 Russian peacekeepers since 2020 as part of a 5 km wide corridor. There is supposed to be a new route built by 202...

Inflation continues to creep higher
INDONESIA · Report · 30 Aug 2022

The Indonesian economy posted an encouraging result for GDP in Q2 2022, growing by 5.44% Y/Y, significantly above the 5.01% achieved in the previous quarter. In fact, the rate of growth also exceeded the consensus, which expected the rate of growth to be at most 5.20% for the quarter. Compare...