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​Negative watch
PHILIPPINES · In Brief · 13 Jul 2021

Yesterday, FitchRatings revised to negative its outlook on the Philippine’s credit rating. The revision signals a possible downgrade of the sovereign’s “BBB” investment grade rating over a one- to two-year horizon.According to the published commentary,[1] the negative watch reflects “downside ris...

Economics: Despite a massive decline, a recovery in tourism is well underway, but pandemic-related restrictions could pose renewed challenges
MEXICO · Report · 12 Jul 2021 · 2 responses

Tourism is one of the sectors most affected by the pandemic in Mexico. Tourism GDP posted an annual 47.7% decline in the second quarter of 2020 since it was not until March 2020 when authorities began to massively apply restrictive measures in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The largest dec...

Politics: After election losses, the PRI needs to redefine its role
MEXICO · Report · 12 Jul 2021

What was once Mexico’s indisputably dominant party, the PRI, now faces an uncertain future. How it defines its proposals and outlook and its relation to the Lopez Obrador government will affect the future of the party and possibly Mexican politics as a whole. Following the results of the June...

The government increases domestic borrowing amid widening federal budget surplus
RUSSIA ECONOMICS · In Brief · 12 Jul 2021

Minfin reported that it continued to play the same tune in June and 1H21 as a whole as the federal budget surplus widened and net domestic borrowing increased. In gross terms, the government borrowed on the local market around R1.5 trln, while in net terms the figure was still impressive – around...

Russian macro: economic policy to change as inflation remains too high
RUSSIA ECONOMICS · Report · 12 Jul 2021

Recent developments in Russia showed that m-o-m inflation has stabilized, but at a high level, so that y-o-y inflation increased and reached 6.5% in June, as monthly inflation varied between 0.67% and 0.78% in 1Q21 and between 0.58% and 0.74% in 2Q21. Inflation was expected to accelerate but not ...

Election in Moldova leads to victory for pro EU party
RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS · In Brief · 12 Jul 2021

On July 11 a parliamentary election resulted in victory for the ruling PAS Party. PAS is the party of President of Sandu. PAS won 53% of the vote. PAS will likely win a majority of the seats. Sandu said her victory meant the end of kleptocracy. The country is plagued by pecculation. BECS is the p...

The climate of the presidential succession and other weekly topics
BRAZIL POLITICS · Report · 12 Jul 2021

Congress may vote on the Budget Guidelines Law. Once approved, the formal recess for Congress begins on July 18 and ends on July 31. President Jair Bolsonaro will sanction the law on the capitalization of Eletrobras on Monday, July 12. Also on Monday, Minister Marco Aurélio Mello retires from the...

Net Exports, Investments and Oil Platforms
BRAZIL ECONOMICS · Report · 12 Jul 2021

Spurred by the strong growth of global exports, the rising commodity prices and the weak real exchange rate, Brazil’s exports have been expanding. Despite the increase of imports, particularly raw materials and intermediated goods for industry, we estimate that the trade surplus at the end of thi...

Likely change in the inflation target
ISRAEL · In Brief · 12 Jul 2021

Governor Yaron spoke today at a conference on July 12 regarding inflation targeting. The idea to revise the inflation target came up actually before Covid, probably one year before. This was due to several years of undershooting the target, which I think the BoI is uncomfortable about on a credib...

Turkey Covid Watch - July 12, 2021
TURKEY · Report · 12 Jul 2021

Covid cases rose to 5.3K and vaccinations are up sharply, with third shots now being offered to the population that previously received two Sinovac shots. Mobility in Turkey is roughly back to pre-pandemic levels. Given the delta variant’s prevalence in Europe and Russia, summer tourism poses a r...

Recovery consolidates, but with high inflation and a higher fiscal deficit
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC · Forecast · 12 Jul 2021

Economic recovery consolidated in May. The monthly index of economic activity reached a y/y growth rate of 21.2%, which makes it more likely that growth for the year will exceed 7%. Greater dynamism has been accompanied by a persistent rise in prices that has placed interannual inflation at 10...

Congress will focus on approving the LDO, Bolsonaro should appoint the Attorney General of Brazil to replace Minister Marco Aurélio, and a busy week in the Pandemic CPI
BRAZIL POLITICS · Report · 12 Jul 2021

The opposition will likely question the constitutionality of the privatization of Eletrobras. Bolsonaro’s nominee for the STF will have to be confirmed in the Senate. In the House, the “super salaries” bill and the privatization of Correios are expected to be analyzed this week. In the Senate, bi...

A declining fiscal deficit will likely support lower bond issuance
ISRAEL · Report · 12 Jul 2021

The fiscal deficit continued to decline, reaching 10.1% GDP LTM from 12.1% in March, due to strong revenues and lower Covid spending. We expect domestic bond issuance to continue to contract, reaching 5bn ILS per month by year-end. The CBS business sector survey reflects strong orders both domest...

Finance minister optimistic about growth, despite problems with EU and Covid
HUNGARY · In Brief · 12 Jul 2021

This morning, finance minister Varga was quoted in the press as saying that the domestic economy is set to grow by 6.5% this year (more than the 4.8% on which this year's budget was originally based, the 4.3% predicted in late April or the 5.5% set as a target a few weeks ago) according to latest...

At the shores of Rubicon
TURKEY · Report · 11 Jul 2021

The economy survived the shock stemming from the sudden change of Governor at the CBRT in late March, without a very major market turmoil so far, contrary to our huge concerns at the time. One key reason is that the most obvious policy mistake, that of a deep and premature rate cut, was avoide...